Expansion for Community Radio in the 12th Plan

I&B Ministry to Consider New Strategies to Support 

First National Community Radio Awards Announced.

Three  Day National Community Radio Sammelan Commences.

The Second National Community Radio Sammelan commenced today with the objective of carving out a new roadmap for mainstreaming Community Radio as an effective outreach tool for community empowerment. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has organised the three day sammelan  from 18^th February to 20^th February 2012 in association with Commonwealth Educational Media centre for Asia (CEMCA).

            Speaking at the inaugural function, Minister of State, Dr S Jagathrakrakshakan said, community radio stations provided a platform to people to create their individual and collective identities. As a medium of communication, it empowered the masses and gave them a sense of belonging. The need of the hour is to connect the aspirations of the people to the information highway and thereby bridge the digital divide. Community radio not only bridged the divide, it very effectively facilitated the growth of peoples’ empowerment in the far and remote corners of the country.

            Also,  speaking earlier on the occasion, Secretary I&B,Shri Uday Kumar Varma outlined the roadmap for the  growth of the community radio movement in the 12^th Five year plan. It was necessary to target the uncovered areas in the country coupled with a cost effective and operational business model. Secretary called upon the participants to avoid delays in  operationalising the licences  in view of the scarcity and squatting over spectrum . For the movement to reach a sizeable target it was critical to be innovative,  encourage out of the box thinking and learn from the best practices. A critical factor determining the growth of the movement was the need to focus on cost effective technology and research. Secretary mentioned that the ministry had submitted a proposal to the planning Commission regarding state funding in the next five year plan. For being an effective dissemination tool it was necessary to position the relevance of the medium in disaster management.

To encourage better programming and competition among Community Radio Stations, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has also instituted National Community Radio Awards in following 5 categories. The awards were given away by the Minister of state, Dr S Jagathrakrakshakan.

i)                 Thematic  Award    

ii)               Community Engagement Award 

iii)             Promoting Local Culture Award 

iv)             Most Creative/Innovative Programme Content Award

v)               Sustainability Model Award 

The National Community Radio Awards in the identified categories have been given to the following for their remarkable efforts and performance :

A)    Thematic Award Category

1.       Radio Namaskar, Konark

2.      CMS CR, Gomati Nagar

3.      Radio Active CR, Bangalore 

B)     Community engagement award category 

1.      Radio Namaskar, Konark

2.      CR Benzigar, Kollam

3.      Kalpakam CR, Kalpakam 

C)     Promoting Local Culture Award category 

1.      Radio 7, Jaipur

2.      Radio Sarang, Mangalore

3.      Gurgoan Awaaz, Gurgaon 

D)    Most Creative /Innovative  Programme content award

1.      PGP CR, Namakkal

2.      Rudino CR, Ahmedabad

3.      Radio JU, Kolkata 

E)     Sustainability model award

1.      Radio Mewat

Community Radio is one of the thrust areas for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.  Ministry has so far issued 363 permissions to set up Community Radio Stations in the country. Out of this, 126 stations have become operational while others are in the pipeline.

This Sammelan has brought together more than 150 stakeholders including Community Radio operators, UN partners, activists, Government departments and experts from various countries like USA, UK, Australia and South Africa.

In the last two years, Ministry has taken several initiatives to strengthen the Community Radio movement in India. Permission process for the CR applications has been fast tracked through better coordination with stakeholder Ministries. People can also now apply online and track the status of their applications at www.cronlineindia.net. This has brought about transparency and accountability in the system. A Facilitation Centre has also been opened up in the Ministry with a toll-free phone number (            1800116422      ) where people can call up for any information relating to Community Radio. Due to these initiatives the number of permissions issued by the Ministry for setting up Community Radio Stations has increased from 186 to 363 and number of operational CRS has increased from 64 to 126 in the last two years.

Ministry of I&B has been organizing awareness and capacity building Workshops all over the country from 2007 onwards to create awareness about Community Radio Policy. Around 32 Workshops have been organized so far. These Workshops have proved to be useful not only to spread awareness but also build capacities of the NGOs and other organizations to operate Community Radio Stations in an effective manner. 

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has partnered with Ek Duniya Anek Aaawaz (EDAA) which is an audio content exchange platform for Community Radio Stations, to have a separate micro-site on EDAA for the coverage of the 2^nd National Community Radio Sammelan on new media platforms.

Proceedings of the sessions will be updated on EDAA's Facebook and Twitter accounts, which will be instantly available on EDAA home page itself. After the session, reports would be filed immediately on development news portal of OneWorld South Asia at http://southasia.oneworld.net.. Video bytes from the dignitaries, panellists and CR Stations would be uploaded on YouTube.

EK duniya anEK awaaz (EdAA) i.e One World, Many Voices is a web based open content exchange platform for community radio broadcasters. The platform enables the CR stations and other content producers to share their audio content and other resources, thus facilitating meaningful utilisation of resources breaking geographical boundries. This site is operated by OneWorld Asia, an NGO. EDAA is designed to handle content exchange and consists of over 350 registered users with a content base of more than 900 usable audio clips from different regions across South Asia in around 9 different languages including Hindi, Nepali, Sinhalese, English, Tamil, Kannada, and Oriya which are categorised under 27 themes pertaining to social development.

Some of the important links where the Sammelan coverage would be available are;

www.edaa.in

http://www.facebook.com/edaa.in

https://twitter.com/#!/EDAA_share 

http://twitter.com/oneworldsa

http:southasia.oneworld.net

2nd National Community Radio Sammelan

The Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Dr. S. Jagathrakshakan addressing the 2nd National Community Radio Sammelan, organised by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in association with Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), in New Delhi on February 18, 2012. The Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Uday Kumar Varma is also seen.   [PIB photo]  18-February-2012

Voice of Voiceless: Community Radio Mattoli

Radio Mattolli has a saga of success
                                     A special feature by Sudha S. Namboothiry*

For the past two and  a half years most of the people of backward   Wayanad in Kerala wake  to the echo of their lone Community Radio- Radio Mattolli . If you are in Wayanad you can tune in to Radio Mattolli at 90.4 MHz frequency from 6 am to 10 pm. Located at Dwaraka, Mananthavady in Wayanad District, this Community Radio is administered by Wayanad Social Service Society , an NGO with 36 years of experience in development interventions in Wayanad District.
           Radio Mattolli which  was launched in 2009 has a saga of success and need not say  Fr. Thomas Joseph Therakam  , Director of the Radio has reasons to be happy.  Latest survey show that number of daily listeners come to 24.05% of the population. In demographic figures of the district (as per 2011 census) it comes to 2,00,056 people. But if weekly and occasional listeners of the Radio Mattoli are included,  the figures will be 74.05% (6,10,539). Another interesting factor is 56% depends on Radio Set for listening to community radio program, whereas 40% use their mobile phones to tune into Mattoli.

           According to Fr. Therakam, Community Radio is the perfect tool to provide comprehensive knowledge, technology, awareness, and empowerment etc. to a targeted audience.   Radio always had upper hand over other media like newspaper and television since a literate can only read newspaper or pamphlets and  viewing television means dedicating time for that and there is a need for electricity in the area too. But anyone can listen to a radio and do other work simultaneously. This is to be noted that about 30,000 families in Wayanad do not have electricity connection.

Radio Mattoli is the first Community Radio service in Kerala and the only electronic media in the State to broadcast programme in tribal dialects daily. The programme   which is all comprising of education, information health etc. is daily aired at 2.30 PM and at 8.05 PM. Radio Mattoli has also launched “Namma Sasthra” – A Special Science Popularization Program supported by Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment. This is broadcasted in local dialect also. Apart from this there are the regular features like reflections on  Gandhian thoughts, Interaction between officials and public, programmes for women prepared by women, introducing various books and local libraries, health programmes, programmes on job oriented training , new courses etc.    Well the Radio is living upto its mission of providing an avenue for the free flow of beneficial information aimed at bringing socio economic changes in the society. As the programmes aired are mostly presented by local  people, listeners  have  an immediate emotional attachment with the presenter and the message is effectively received. The target groups consist of marginal farmers, indigenous people, dalits, agricultural labourers women and children. Hence such an emotional bonding is much required  says Fr. Therakam. These people need to have the sense of belonging in order to trust .

Radio Mattoli has even formed Mattoli clubs in schools. Out of the 288 schools in the district 91 schools have Mattoli clubs. Members of these  clubs get a chance to broadcast their programmes over Mattoli. This inculcates leadership quality, creativity, presentation capability and awareness in children. They get a wonderful exposure to the world of electronic media.

Started with an initial investment of Rs. 58 lakh, which was used for infrastructure and one year functioning of Radio Mattoli, today it has the support of NABARD, Coffee Board, Kerala State Agricultural Department and the limited commercial spots permitted by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. Need not say Radio Mattoli is here to give voice to the voiceless and help them express themselves socially, economically, culturally and spiritually in order to make them masters of their own destinies.                              ***

*Media & Communication Officer (PIB, Cochin)