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Calling out

With a change in policy, the time for community radio is now

PHOTO: R.V. MOORTHY

WITHIN REACH A man explaining about the Community Radio Broadcasting System at Pragati Maidan

In November 2006, the Government of India announced a new community radio policy that allows NGOs and community-based groups to set up and run low-powered radio stations.

To enable civil society organisations to take advantage of this change, UNESCO, in collaboration with PLAN International India, CARE India and One World South Asia, recently organised a forum on innovation, low cost solutions and access.

S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Urban Development, emphasises that allowing civil organisations licences is crucial because "all needs are not necessarily national, many needs are local". He asserts that community radios must become cheap, and technologies like the suitcase radio should be explored.

Access and participation

Says Seema Nair of UNESCO, "Access needs to lead to engagement. She adds, "dissemination of information leads to better participation." Ashish Sen, Director of Voices, (Bangalore) believes, "By legitimising community radio, the government will walk its talk of `Voice being a critical ingredient in poverty eradication'."

Stalin K, Co-Founder and Director of Drishti, Ahmedabad explains the change in policy. Prior to the Cabinet's decision, only "well established educational institutions" could get licenses. Previously communities could transmit their programmes only by buying time (from AIR, for example), through cable television and by narrowcasting. But today civil societies, under certain stipulations, can own their own radio stations.

Dr. Vinod Pavarala, Professor of Communication (Sarojini Naidu School of Communication, Hyderabad) has worked extensively on the reach of community radio. He sees it as a powerful tool of horizontal communication. It demystifies technology for non-literate people. It has helped give a voice to women and children. He reports that in the interior parts of Palamau district of Jharkhand, the men see women community radio reporters with new respect.

Danny Gee Varghese, Project Officer of Panos South Asia, cites how Kishor Vani in Bikaner, Rajasthan, has brought children to the forefront. With girls dropping out of school after their "gauna", a programme by the children asserts the importance of education. A programme on sexuality brought a flood of responses from parents. The children made a particularly insightful programme on the workings of the Gram Sabha.

Drishti has facilitated two radio programmes in Gujarat. Darya Gher ("Encompassing the Ocean") in Kutchi dialect is run by the fishing community, and Aiyar ("Call Out") in Dangi deals with forest rights and tribal issues.

Stalin asserts that the existence of different dialects underscores the need for community radio. Pavarala says that even with the best of intentions, AIR cannot cater to the linguistic diversity of India.

When asked about the shortfalls of AIR Ranchi's Hindi broadcasts, a villager from Palamau said, "Woh Hindi humko angrezi lagta hai." Jocelyne Josiah, Communication and Information Adviser UNESCO, believes the slogan "The time for community radio now" should be made into a song of our times.

NANDINI NAIR

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