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DELHI: The rush for setting up community radio stations (CRS) is on. There are
over 90 applications from non-governmental organisations and educational institutions
pending approval from the government. With
the grant of permission for a CRS at St. Aloysius College in Mangalore, the number
of such stations in the country has gone up to 42. The
St Aloysius College station is expected to be operational within three months,
according to the Grant of Permission Agreement with the Information and Broadcasting
ministry. St.
Aloysius College, Mangalore, is a 129-year old Educational Institution which hopes
to reach out to the adjoining population to make development a participatory process.
The population residing around the college includes approximately 34.1 per cent
rural listeners. More than 54 per cent women will get a chance to listen to the
station. Earlier
this month, the Ministry announced that it had given permission to NGO DHAN Foundation
of Madurai to set up the Kalanjiam Community Radio Station at Village Vizhunthamavadi,
Block-Keelaiyur in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu which was largely affected
by the tsunami. The CRS is expected to serve the women, farmers, and fishermen
and empower them with information and communication critical for disaster preparedness
and management. The
community management committee has made linkages with the local government institutions
like panchayats, health centres, schools and disaster management related Government
institutions to establish a disaster management mechanism to face natural calamities.
In
December, the Ministry permitted NGO Sharanbasaveshwar Vidya Vardhak Sangha in
Gulbarga to set up a CRS to serve the communities in the region, particularly
girls, women, farmers and students. The
Delhi-based Society for Development Alternatives became the first NGO to launch
a CRS at Taragram, Orchha, in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh in October.
Ministry
sources told indiantelevision.com that a total of around 40 NGOs have so far got
the Ministry’s permission to set up and operate Community Radio Stations
in different parts of the country but the finalisation of details is at various
stages of implementation. The
Central Government in December 2006 had liberalized the Policy on Community Radio
by bringing in the civil society and voluntary organizations, agricultural universities,
ICAR institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendras etc under its ambit. The policy was liberalized
to allow greater participation by the civil society on issues of development and
social change. Earlier, only educational institutions were permitted to launch
community radio channels. The
Community Radio initiative is aimed at empowering women, youth and marginalized
groups to take part in local self-governance and overall socio-economic and cultural
development of the area. The
Government in late 2007 also announced that existing community radio operators
can take advantage of the revised guidelines for new operators and get their broadcast
permission extended to five years from the present three. | 
