Community Radio for National Development…

Community Radio for National Development…

New Delhi 17/01/2013: In the historical city of Agra braving the winter chills, thirty seven participants from the neighbouring regions of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and the National Capital Region joined the Community Radio (CR) Awareness Consultation from January 10-12, 2013. Organized on behalf of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) by the Commonwealth Educational Media centre for Asia (CEMCA), the event was second in the series of three in 2012-13. Welcoming the delegates, Dr. Sanjaya Mishra, Director, CEMCA, emphasized the role of Community Radio for national development and empowerment of citizens. “CR should be seen as a tool for information, education and entertainment that helps preserve indigenous knowledge, languages and cultures”, he said. Over three days participants discussed issues of licensing, and the process of setting up a community radio station. Shri Inderjit Grewal , Deputy Director , MIB and Shri Umang Srivastava , Assistant Wireless Advisor from Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology took the participants through the application process in detail. Lively discussions with representatives of operational CR stations namely Gurgaon ki Awaaz, Radio Mewat and CMS Radio, Alfaz-e- Mewat gave participants opportunities to understand practical challenges that arise while setting up and running CR and how these are addressed. A demo of transmission was arranged by Broadcast Engineers Consultants India Limited (BECIL) that was backed up with a visit to a local CRS Aap ki Awaaz, where participants observed the functioning of a CRS in action and interacted with local experts.

The workshop ended on a high note with high level of enthusiasm and interest amongst the participants. Two-thirds of the participants indicated an expression of interest for setting up CR station. About seven had already applied for CR license and are in various stages. CEMCA community radio facilitation Centre (CCFC) will now follow-up with those who have expressed an interest and help them realise their goal of setting up a community radio station. The third workshop in the series is scheduled to be held from 17-19 March 2013 at Dharamshala.