Published in Deccan Herald on 25th June, 2012
By-Manish Kumar
After almost a decade-long campaigning for a ‘three-tier radio broadcasting system’ in India by some media activists and radio enthusiasts, community radio marked its presence in 2006, after getting a nod from the Government of India.
In the last one year, there is an upsurge of people taking interest in setting up community radio stations across the country. This is evident from the fact that a maximum of 100 Letter of Intent (LoI) were issued to interested parties in 2011-2012 by the ministry of information and broadcasting.
The ministry recently updated official data on its website, which claims that now there are 132 operational community radio stations (CRS) all over the country.
However, not many experts are impressed with these figures. “This is a drop in the ocean. We have the potential to accommodate around 4,000-5,000 CRS in the country.
Also, this upsurge is benefitting whom? Most of them are from the educational sectors and not from the civil society. We needed the NGOs and voluntary organisations to flourish, who really work for the community but unfortunately, this has not happened,” says Vinod Pavarala, Unesco Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad.
In fact, going by the official ministry data, out of 132 operational radio stations, 81 belong to the educational sector, six to state agricultural universities, four to Krishi Vigyan Kendras and 41 to the NGOs. Point to note is that only these four sectors are allowed to set up community radio stations in India.
Though the number has increased, at the same time a new challenge has dampened the spirit of community radio enthusiasts. The ministry has decided to hike the annual licence fee for these CRS from Rs 19,700 to Rs 91,000 which has irked the radio fraternity.
“This retrograde step by the ministry has hit the very spirit of the CRS. It will discourage the small and marginalised communities running the low power radio stations and can lead to their shut down and will favour only the rich NGOs and private educational institutions. This is against the very concept of developing community radio which was supposed to be of, for and by the people,” says the author of ‘Other Voices: Struggle for Community Radio in India.’
Moreover, what adds to the conundrum is the involvement of multiple ministries when it comes to granting licences to CRS in India. Till now, the government has shown reluctance to open these CRS in ‘conflict zones’ like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh which are ‘Naxal prone areas.’ Pavarala considers this a huge mistake.
“By barring the people of these areas of information, they are actually helping the extremists. When they (people) lack access to information, chances are more that they will get inclined to the extremists’ views. In fact, we need more CRS in these areas.” says the radio activist who is spearheading the struggle for freedom of CRS in the country.
Non-revenue sector
Nevertheless, community radio stations are treated as a ‘non-revenue sector’ which toil hard to sustain itself. They need funds from sponsors and outside sources to proceed.
Published in Deccan Herald on 25th June, 2012
In the last one year, there is an upsurge of people taking interest in setting up community radio stations across the country. This is evident from the fact that a maximum of 100 Letter of Intent (LoI) were issued to interested parties in 2011-2012 by the ministry of information and broadcasting.
The ministry recently updated official data on its website, which claims that now there are 132 operational community radio stations (CRS) all over the country.
However, not many experts are impressed with these figures. “This is a drop in the ocean. We have the potential to accommodate around 4,000-5,000 CRS in the country.
Also, this upsurge is benefitting whom? Most of them are from the educational sectors and not from the civil society. We needed the NGOs and voluntary organisations to flourish, who really work for the community but unfortunately, this has not happened,” says Vinod Pavarala, Unesco Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad.
In fact, going by the official ministry data, out of 132 operational radio stations, 81 belong to the educational sector, six to state agricultural universities, four to Krishi Vigyan Kendras and 41 to the NGOs. Point to note is that only these four sectors are allowed to set up community radio stations in India.
Though the number has increased, at the same time a new challenge has dampened the spirit of community radio enthusiasts. The ministry has decided to hike the annual licence fee for these CRS from Rs 19,700 to Rs 91,000 which has irked the radio fraternity.
“This retrograde step by the ministry has hit the very spirit of the CRS. It will discourage the small and marginalised communities running the low power radio stations and can lead to their shut down and will favour only the rich NGOs and private educational institutions. This is against the very concept of developing community radio which was supposed to be of, for and by the people,” says the author of ‘Other Voices: Struggle for Community Radio in India.’
Moreover, what adds to the conundrum is the involvement of multiple ministries when it comes to granting licences to CRS in India. Till now, the government has shown reluctance to open these CRS in ‘conflict zones’ like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh which are ‘Naxal prone areas.’ Pavarala considers this a huge mistake.
“By barring the people of these areas of information, they are actually helping the extremists. When they (people) lack access to information, chances are more that they will get inclined to the extremists’ views. In fact, we need more CRS in these areas.” says the radio activist who is spearheading the struggle for freedom of CRS in the country.
Non-revenue sector
Nevertheless, community radio stations are treated as a ‘non-revenue sector’ which toil hard to sustain itself. They need funds from sponsors and outside sources to proceed.
Published in Deccan Herald on 25th June, 2012
By-Manish Kumar
Unlike commercial FM channels, community radio channels lack good number of advertisements which can fetch them revenue. Although the CRS can broadcast advertisements, the rates as fixed by the DAVP (Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity) for CRS are very nominal which seem hard to turn this ‘loss prone’ sector into a profit making or at least self-sustaining entity.
However, Patna based media consultant, Anurag Sahay is optimistic. “CRS are an unexplored sector of communication. They can very well sustain themselves and I firmly believe they can make better business than the private FM channels, although they are not meant to, but at least they can become self-sustaining and can get over the financial crunch.”
“Private FM channels do not charge for the making of ads, they charge only for the airspace. However there is no existing policy which bars the CRS from charging for the production besides broadcasting fees. So, for the local advertisers it could become a better option to advertise in CRS because they can offer a package including production cost,” says Sahay.
According to him, the need of the hour is to liberalise the policy guidelines which will encourage interested parties to set up more such CRS which can cater to the needs of the local people and serve as the voice of the voiceless. He also cites the example of New York city which has a simpler policy due to which the city has more FM channels than the total number of CRS in India.
In India, we have witnessed a mixed success rate for the existing CRS. Some have proved themselves as a boon in educating the population in the close vicinity and empowering them. And, we also have examples where the population within 1 km radius is ignorant of their existence.
“The need of the hour is to encourage people’s participation. The more the local community participates, the more would be the success of community radio. When the local community takes active participation in the production process, the real purpose of the community radio stations will be served.” says Shyam Bhat, Coordinator of Radio Manipal, the first community radio of Dakshina Kannada, in Karnataka.
However, Patna based media consultant, Anurag Sahay is optimistic. “CRS are an unexplored sector of communication. They can very well sustain themselves and I firmly believe they can make better business than the private FM channels, although they are not meant to, but at least they can become self-sustaining and can get over the financial crunch.”
“Private FM channels do not charge for the making of ads, they charge only for the airspace. However there is no existing policy which bars the CRS from charging for the production besides broadcasting fees. So, for the local advertisers it could become a better option to advertise in CRS because they can offer a package including production cost,” says Sahay.
According to him, the need of the hour is to liberalise the policy guidelines which will encourage interested parties to set up more such CRS which can cater to the needs of the local people and serve as the voice of the voiceless. He also cites the example of New York city which has a simpler policy due to which the city has more FM channels than the total number of CRS in India.
In India, we have witnessed a mixed success rate for the existing CRS. Some have proved themselves as a boon in educating the population in the close vicinity and empowering them. And, we also have examples where the population within 1 km radius is ignorant of their existence.
“The need of the hour is to encourage people’s participation. The more the local community participates, the more would be the success of community radio. When the local community takes active participation in the production process, the real purpose of the community radio stations will be served.” says Shyam Bhat, Coordinator of Radio Manipal, the first community radio of Dakshina Kannada, in Karnataka.
