Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Rural SC women shine on airwaves

Radio gaga: Former Supreme Court Justice P. B. Sawant inaugurating Sangham Radio at Machnoor village in Medak district.

HYDERABAD: Even as the entire mainstream media was focussed on the civilian air show, an epoch making event concerning empowerment of poor rural SC women, just 110 km away, went largely unnoticed. Undeterred by poor media presence, Algole Narsamma and ‘General’ Narsamma, radio managers and their team, made history when their Sangham Radio, India’s first Rural Community Radio Station went on air. It was formally launched at Machnoor village in Medak district by Justice P. B. Sawant, former Supreme Court Judge. Incidentally, this is also the first all-women community radio station in Asia. The radio is completely owned, managed and operated by women from marginalised rural communities. The radio will broadcast to a radius of 25 km covering about 100 villages and a population close to 50,000. The radio is facilitated by and licensed to the Deccan Development Society (DDS), an NGO working in the district. As Justice Sawant switched on the 50 watt transmitter at 11a.m. on Wednesday, the voice of DDS women crackled in unison: “Akka chellenlu podaame mana sanghamku maatlada podaamey…” (Come sisters, let us go to our Sangham to talk) reflecting the aspirations of the women sanghams. Justice Sawant, who had liberated airwaves from State control through a landmark judgment in 1995, compared the event to the revolution started 150 years ago by Mahatma Phule when he opened a school for SC girls. Bhaskar Ghose, formerly Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, asked the DDS women to make it a vibrant and robust radio. Senior journalists Pothuri Venkateswara Rao and Kalpana Sharma, eminent artist Laxma Goud spoke. P. V. Satheesh, Director, DDS said that it was the realisation of the media autonomy of the people who were completely ignored by the mainstream media.

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