Over 70 organizations from all over the country will meet in Delhi on 1st February for a day long consultation , to take the community radio movement in India to the next level. The National Consultation, organized by the Community Radio Forum, will bring together community representatives, academics, broadcasters, non-profit organizations, UN agencies and government officials.
This will be the first such consultation in the country, marking the beginning of a new era in radio broadcasting. It was only in November 2006, after seven long years of lobbying by groups like the Community Radio Forum, that the government finally accepted to make changes in the Community Radio Policy, to allow community based groups to set up their own radio stations.
Earlier only 'established educational institutions of repute' could apply for licenses to set up radio stations. This policy resulted in some institutions like Universities and IITs setting up low power "campus radios". But the policy drew severe criticisms and oppositions from civil society organizations who were barred from applying for licenses. The consultation will submit a set of recommendations to the officials to further democratize the airwaves.
According to Stalin K., the convenor of this forum and one of the foremost names among radio advocates in the country, "The government should shift paradigms and see itself as encouragers of community radio rather than as regulators. If the government puts in place a simple procedure for application and a single window clearance, then almost every group present in this consultation will set up a radio station in the next two years. And this is just the tip of the ice-berg."
Organizations that work with communities in need of such outlets, hopefully would now come in to take advantage of the changed scenario.
This will be the first such consultation in the country, marking the beginning of a new era in radio broadcasting. It was only in November 2006, after seven long years of lobbying by groups like the Community Radio Forum, that the government finally accepted to make changes in the Community Radio Policy, to allow community based groups to set up their own radio stations.
Earlier only 'established educational institutions of repute' could apply for licenses to set up radio stations. This policy resulted in some institutions like Universities and IITs setting up low power "campus radios". But the policy drew severe criticisms and oppositions from civil society organizations who were barred from applying for licenses. The consultation will submit a set of recommendations to the officials to further democratize the airwaves.
According to Stalin K., the convenor of this forum and one of the foremost names among radio advocates in the country, "The government should shift paradigms and see itself as encouragers of community radio rather than as regulators. If the government puts in place a simple procedure for application and a single window clearance, then almost every group present in this consultation will set up a radio station in the next two years. And this is just the tip of the ice-berg."
Organizations that work with communities in need of such outlets, hopefully would now come in to take advantage of the changed scenario.
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