Shillong, March 26: A three-day Community Radio Awareness Workshop organized by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India in collaboration with Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), New Delhi in partnership with the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, The English and Foreign Languages (EFL) University, Shillong Campus, got underway at the University Campus here today.
The awareness workshop is being organized to sensitize the region on the value of community radio, which is managed and run including programming, by the community.
In his opening remarks, Director of CEMCA, Dr Shahid Rasool said the Government of India has an ambitious plan to start over 4000 community radio centres where the local community will make, develop and broadcast their programmes ranging from folk songs to new farming techniques to means of sustainable livelihood.He informed that so far 253 community radio licenses have been given out by the Government of India across the country.
The other objective of the Community Radio is to create a space for common man whose issues have been erased out from prime time by big media establishments.“It is of the people, by the people and for the people,” he stressed while informing that the government is providing 90 per cent subsidy for the establishment of Community Radio Stations in the North East.
PMU, CRS Cell, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, Amit Dwivedi informed that so far government has given 7 community radio licenses to organizations from the North East. Of these, 3 stations are in Assam, two in Manipur and one each in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
Dr. R Sreedher, often called as the ‘Father of Community Radio in India’, said radio is also a ‘juggad’. He said radio as a word has been forgotten because it is so widely available and integrated into even the smallest of earphones. While lamenting that radio has been reduced to only audio and device, he also advised that community radio should not be used for activism or for commercial activities.
Talking about new amendments to the Community Radio policy to encourage more takers of the initiative, he informed that now an educational or government institution can apply for multiple licenses provided they fulfil the laid down criteria and each station is about 25 kms apart. Also, one area can have a maximum of three licenses whereby their jurisdiction or range cannot overlap. Further, advertisements have been allowed upto 7.5 minutes for every hour to make the Community Radios sustainable.
Earlier in the inaugural session, EFL University Director in-charge Prof. T. K. Bamon welcomed the dignitaries and participants that have come from all across the region from government institutions, NGOs, educational intuitions and PSUs.
The vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Caroline Wahlang, Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, EFL University, Shillong Campus.
