Copy right : Paul V Mathew and Manu Melwin Joy (2013), JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, MACFAST
Community Radio as a tool for rural
communication
Paul V Mathew and Manu
Melwin Joy
Abstract
Within a short span of time, Community Radio
(CR) became voice to the voiceless by connecting people, bridging the gap
between government and public and equipping community to achieve various social
goals. Community Radio Stations (CRS) owned and operate by the community helped
in bridging the knowledge divide among people by imparting information on education,
health, agriculture, environment and culture thereby contributing to their social
development and personal empowerment. This article gives a glimpse on the
status, operation, opportunities and challenges of CRS in India.
…………………………………………………
Being the second largest country in the
world in terms of population with diverse culture and different languages, it
is hard for the government to reach every citizen especially to the people in
rural hinterlands. Though Information Technology (IT) emerged as the panacea
for all the issues, still we need to go a long road to achieve our social
goals. In this context, the key lies in connecting the masses and linking
people with government. When the efforts for amplifying public service
broadcasting got robustness, radio - the most widely available and affordable
medium of communication for rural community became an active source of
information that facilitates grass root level empowerment. Among these
initiatives, Community Radio Stations (CRS) make huge difference by filling the
knowledge gap among the community, gives voice to the voiceless and produces
spectacular results in democracy, empowerment, education, livelihood and
various other social indicators.
Methodology
The
main objectives of the study are:
- To analyze and examine the status, operation and activities Community Radio (CR) in India
- To study the role of Community Radio in the empowerment of people and bridging information gap among rural mass
- To identify the challenges and opportunities of Community Radio in India
Data
were collected from different secondary sources like reports of the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting (MI&B), Community Radio websites and compendiums
of CR. As a person (Paul V Mathew) having working experience in CR, researcher incorporated his personal observations, along with
expert opinions and interviews with personnel’s in operational CRS. It is
important to note that the study considered data from 119 operational CRS in
India.
Community Radio – Indian Scenario
It
was in the wake of Supreme Court’s historic verdict in 1995 that “air waves
constitute public property and must be utilized for advancing public good”
which brought revolutionary changes in public service broadcasting. Considering
the successful operation of CRS in different parts of the world, Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting (MI&B) released the first Community Radio
policy guidelines with the objective of strengthening democracy with
applications invited from limited recognized education institutions. Albeit 104
education institutions were granted license, that was not enough to meet the
expectations of policy makers. In 2006 the revised guidelines which included
non – profit organizations and agricultural universities/Krishi Vigyan Kendras
(KVK) triggered Community Radio movement in India.
As per the MI&B officials, there are 148 CRS operational in
India; around 95 agencies have done with (GoPA) Grand of Permission Agreement
(MI&B) and ready to broadcast. Among these, 99 are run by educational
institutions or Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) and 49 are operated by Non
Governmental Organizations (NGO) or not for profit organizations. All the
states except North East region (national border) and Jammu and Kashmir have
operational CRS. There are two CRS in Assam, 20 in Tamil Nadu, 14 in Maharashtra,
12 in Uttar Pradesh and 10 in Madhya Pradesh.
A
year wise comparison between the number of operational stations against Letter
of Intent (LoI) issued and GOPA signed shows a significant progress in 2010-12.
Supriya Sahu, Joint Secretary, MI&B says that the Ministry has issued a
total of 418 permissions (Letters of intent (LOIs)) so far; 77 in 2010, 100 in
2011 and 55 in 2012. It reveals that more than 50% of the total permissions issued
so far were in the last two and a half years. The number of operational CR stations has more
than doubled from 64 in 2009 to 148 in 2013. It is noted that MI&B issued license
to CR stations in two North East Sates other than Assam (2010); Tripura and
Arunachal Pradesh (CRS Compendium, 2013).
Language of Broadcast: It
is observed that CRS give preference to local dialects for preserve indigenous
dialect and culture. In order to make CR inclusive and ensuring listenership,
many CRS broadcast programs in other languages.
While analyzing the number of languages, it ranges from 1 to 7, which
include one major regional language and a few programs in other languages.
Whereas 23 CRS broadcast programs in two languages, 33 CR broadcast programs in
any 3 languages. Among these Puduvani Radio in Puducherry broadcasts programs
in 7 languages viz. Tamil, English, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Oriya. 77 CRS broadcast
programs in Hindi, 50 in English and 41 in both English and Hindi.
Sl. No.
|
Language of Broadcast
|
No. of CRS
|
Sl. No.
|
Language of Broadcast
|
No. of CRS
|
1
|
Hindi
|
77
|
10
|
Guajarati
|
3
|
2
|
English
|
50
|
11
|
Kutchee
|
1
|
3
|
Telugu
|
8
|
12
|
Mev
|
2
|
4
|
Urdu
|
6
|
13
|
Pahari
|
1
|
5
|
Assamese
|
1
|
14
|
Kannada
|
10
|
6
|
Haryanvi
|
6
|
15
|
Tamil
|
26
|
7
|
Bhojpuri
|
3
|
16
|
Konkani
|
1
|
8
|
Punjabi
|
4
|
17
|
Malayalam
|
8
|
9
|
Surgujia
|
1
|
18
|
Bundeli
|
1
|
Source: CR Compendium,
2013; MI&B
|
19
|
Marathi
|
14
|
||
Table.1:
CRS and No. of Languages of Broadcast
Hours of Broadcast: Hours of broadcast ranges from 2 to 24. While
studies proved that stations providing around 8 hours of broadcast were more
connected to listeners and their needs (UNICEF, 2012). Analysis shows that around 40%
of CRS’s hour of broadcast is below 8 hours. Average hour of broadcasting of
CRS in India is approximately 10 hrs, but the ratio of original to repeated
content is 50:50.
Themes
and Formats: CRS broadcast programs in myriad
formats and with multiple themes. As a tool for social development, CRS focus
on different themes like education, health, mother and child development,
agriculture, women empowerment, communal harmony, youth development,
livelihood, environment, culture etc., blended with a mix of folk songs and
music to entertain listeners. Education is the main theme of 70% of CRS and
health is 58% of CRS. Programs are broadcast in manifold formats like
interview, talk show, discussions, plays, music, folk songs, travelogue,
reports etc.
Community Radio- a tool for rural
communication
Beyond
commercial broadcasting services, Community Radio’s (CR) offer a third model of
radio broadcasting catering to the needs of the community in a specific
geographic area (normally 5 Km radius). It incorporates content
relevant to a local/specific audience which is owned, operated, and managed by
the community. It is a not-for profit mechanism exclusively for the overall
development of a community/village to provide opportunities for community
members to tell their own diverse stories, to share experiences, to discuss
their issues. Here people act as the creators as well as contributors of the
content. Even though the definition is slightly different, there are multitude
of success stories of CRS from different parts of the world like France,
Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Ireland, United Kingdom, the United States,
Canada, and Australia where Community Radio acts as a vehicle for social
development.
Key Features
As per the policy guidelines of Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting (MI&B), an organization desirous of
operating a Community Radio Station (CRS) must be able to satisfy and adhere to
the following principles:
·
It should be explicitly
constituted as a 'non-profit' organization and should have a proven record of
at least three years of service to the local community.
·
The CRS to be operated by it
should be designed to serve a specific well-defined local community.
·
It should have an ownership
and management structure that is reflective of the community that the CRS seeks
to serve.
·
Programmes for broadcast
should be relevant to the educational, developmental, social and cultural needs
of the community.
·
It must be a Legal Entity i.e.
it should be registered under the registration of Societies Act or any other
such act relevant to the purpose.
Local Ownership: Community Radio is; “of the community, by the
community and for the community’. Policy guidelines clearly state that “CRS are
operated and own by the communities they serve” and at least 50% of content
shall be generated with the participation of the local community. Most of the
CRS have a Program Management Committee (PMC) to manage and monitor operations
and to advice on all matters especially in content development which
incorporates members from marginalized people in the community.
‘Namma
Dhwani (Our Voice)’ Community Radio in Karnataka is one of the community owned
CRS - a federation of Self Help Group (SHG) of women and men known as Community
Managed Resource Centers (CMRCs). The parent agency Mysore Resettlement and
Development (MYRADA) was set up this independent village forum CMRCs in
Budikote village to ensure the ownership and active participation of the
community in radio operation. CMRC and Namma Dhwani studio is managed by the local
community from their own single building. 80% of the board members of Namma
Dhwani are elected from the women SHGs and all the members are normally poor. They
come regularly to CMRC to hold meetings, avail different services for
themselves and for the community.
Educating people: The CR policy guidelines specifically
states that “emphasis should be on developmental, agricultural, health,
educational, environmental, social, welfare, community development and cultural
aspects of the community. In another way, CRS aims at narrowing the information
gap among the members by continuous and intensive educational programs in
different areas. CRS have diverse opportunities to obliterate illiteracy and
ignorance of village masses through access to information and knowledge. As
strategic contributor to education, development and empowerment, Community Radio
provides immense opportunity for the enlightenment of marginalized sectors.
Alfaz-e-Mewat, a CR in Haryana strives to connect people through
radio by offering rural communities a platform to share their indigenous
knowledge and to create awareness. “Most of the villagers are involved in
agriculture and allied activities. The program incorporates traditional as well
as scientific information on agriculture enabling rural farming community to
look ahead optimistically. As an edutainment, Alfaz-e-Mewat acts as a tool to
promote education, health and sanitation thereby preserving Mewati culture and
language”, says Sohrab Khan, a CR member.
Empowering Community members: Empowering people at grass root level is the prime
strategy for ensuring rural development as well as tackling myriad impediments
for growth in a sustainable manner. As an instrument for community empowerment,
CRS make positive transformations in the lives of people. CR provides community
with various platforms for personal development especially women empowerment by
introducing government schemes and by inculcating new visions, thus making
community aware about their rights and privileges.
Radio Mattoli in Wayanad, Kerala, one of the most successful CRS
creates legacies on community participation and people empowerment, gives a clarion
call for change in that region. Even though Wayanad is a backward district in Kerala
in terms of socio economic and education status and the sad plight of agrarian community,
the initiatives of Mattoli radio brought radical changes in the quality of the
lives of the people through regular open forum, phone-in-programmes, continuous
training and capacity building sessions
in association with community development organizations, and local
community leadership. Radio Mattoli gives greater visibility, recognition and
respect to the tribal people and their dialects. This nurturing and fostering
of traditional dialects resulted in electioneering in an Adivasi (tribal)
dialect for the first time in the state history during the
Panchayath Raj elections in 2010.
Dr
Thomas Joseph Therakam, Station Director, Radio Mattoli shares one of his
experiences. ‘It was at the time when Wayanad district was facing unabated
farmers’ suicide, mainly due to crops failure and price crash. We broadcasted a
radio drama to instill new hope and motivation in farmers in the midst of
worries and miseries. A few days after, we received an anonymous letter says: “The
very day I planned my suicide, Mattoli broadcasted that radio drama, and it is
only because of Mattoli, I am alive today”. After exactly an year later a
young lady named ‘Reshma’ wrote again partially revealing her identity, saying
that she is now happily married and is employed as teacher in the neighboring
district. She requested us to repeat that episode which helped to hold her on
to life despite heavy odds. We repeated it not once, but thrice, to make sure that
Reshma did not miss it”. (CR Compendium, 2011)
Preserving cultural identity: Irrespective
of nations, degradation of ethnic cultures and extinction of regional dialects
are an emerging issue which has to be addressed with utmost importance and CRS
seem to be an ideal solution for this impending crisis. Community Radio
Stations act as a medium to bring people together, maintain communal harmony, preserving
culture and uphold unity among members. While mainstream media neglect and
ignore the grass root level stories of marginalized in outskirts, CRS fill that
void by playing a crucial role in bringing local voice to the fore.
The Chicholi Community Radio in Madhya Pradesh situated in the
midst of a tribal community lacks facilities for proper education and awareness.
It was established with the aim of the preservation of culture and tradition of
Gond Community which faces extinction. Chicholi CR broadcast programs to
improve the education, knowledge and social awareness of the local population
in their language like Gondu, Kurku which the listeners understand. Radio
Bhabra, Radio Khalwa and Radio Seasiapura in Madhya Pradesh, PSG CR in Tamil
Nadu, Jandhwani in Karnataka, Janvani and Radio Mattoli in Kerala and Radio
Dhadakan in Uttar Pradesh broadcast programs exclusively for tribal
community.
Strengthening
Democracy: As a mass medium, Community Radio emerged as a
vibrant tool to strengthen democracy and governance. When the traditional broadcast spaces act as unidirectional in
communication with hardly any involvement of the local community, CRS hear the
unheard by offering enormous opportunities for the common man to participate,
communicate and express. The entire
edifice of rural development stands in the landmark 73rd and 74th
Constitutional Amendments in 1992 that makes bottom level community to think,
decide and act for their own collective socio economic interests and to
participate in democratic process more actively. The structure, formats and
themes of CR are totally in line with this concept that facilitates and
strengthens democracy.
Gurgaon Ki
Awaz Radio in Haryana broadcasts a program
‘Participation in Democracy’ which reports
directly from municipal house meetings for the listeners to learn and
understand. ‘Mahiti Kirana’ - a program broadcast by Radio Active, Bangalore
incorporates programmes produced by the civic on
issues related to food, health, governance, education, water, employment etc.
and awareness on government schemes like Public Distribution System, Right to
Information (RTI), Human Rights, Bharath Nirman, Right to Food, Right to
Education (RTE), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(MNREGA), Nagara Palika Act, Jana Spundana Programme etc.
A
decade of experiences with Community Radio invariably proves that CR has the potential to bring significant positive change
in the social fabric of the local community by ensuring community
engagement in development process and facilitates participation in democratic
process and local governance. Along with community empowerment, CRS increase
the accountability of people representatives paving way for food governance.
Opportunities
and Challenges
Even
though Community Radio movement in India is still in its infancy, we need to
overcome multitude of issues which is essentials to achieve the goals
envisioned by this rural communication tool.
Lack of Awareness: Despite
the pivotal role played by CRS in disseminating information within the
community, a large chunk of people/organizations are still unaware of the possibilities
of CR. It is heartening to know that 12th plan has brought out an option to provide financial resources
to new and existing CR stations that would help to operationalize around 100
new CR stations every year. The dedicated page in Facebook - 'Community Radio India’ (www.facebook.com/communityradioindia)
is a welcoming move by MI&B. But the effectiveness of the service by professional
technical agencies and the advocacy
with Government ministries is debatable. It is unfortunate that CRS have not been promoted as a large
scale social scheme and people are not able to differentiate CR and commercial
FM’s. Prof.
Binod C Agarwal (Director General and Professor of Eminence, Taleem Research
Foundation, Ahmadabad) says that “in 2007, MI&B announced its resolve to
have 4000 Community Radios under the new enabling Community Radio policy. The advocates
of Community Radio felt that the approval of Community Radio policy in November
2006 would unleash the potential of radio for achieving participatory
developments goals. Today there are reported 126 CRS operated and managed by
non-governmental organizations (NGO’S) and educational institutions. Due to
lack of political will, the importance of CR in economic and social development
has been largely ignored”. (Yojana, June 2013). It is a high time to promote
Community Radio initiatives as major community development scheme and
Government should utilize all the public and private platforms like television,
news paper and other regional agencies to unleash its real strength (Ram Bhatt,
Vice-President, CR Forum of India).
Licensing Procedure:
The
present procedure to get CR license is cumbersome and bureaucratic which needs
clearance from or goes through the inter ministerial committee of MI&B,
Ministry of Information Communication and Technology (MoICT), Ministry of Home
Affairs (MoHA), Ministry of Defence (MoD), Airport Authority of India (AAI) -
Ministry of Space, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and Ministry of Law along with
Grant of Permission Agreement (GoPA), Wireless Operating License (WOL), SACFA
clearance, and frequency allocation by Wireless
Planning & Coordination Wing (WPC). It is reported that till date
MI&B has received around 1200 CR applications, among these 545 have been
rejected. Out of 655, 428 have just passed the initial stage, 91 have reached
the final stage and now ready to broadcast. As ‘communications’ is solely
manage by centre as per the constitutions (Union List) and many of the
applicants from grass root level lack technical and administrative know-how, there
should be a more convenient mechanism to cut short the lengthy licensing
process. CR policy in regional languages, more roles for states in CR
promotion, single window clearance, applications tracking system and
training/technical support for applicants are vital to uplift CR from a subdued stage.
Sustainability:
While
looking back and moving ahead, answer to the question of sustainability of CR
raised by almost all operators remains elusive. Lack
of financial as well as human resources with the NGO’s is the major impediment for
the growth of CR. Also organizations need to meet the capital cost for setting up
studio and related components along with the cost for human resource. It is a challenging
task for the grass root level organizations to find fund for the sustenance
amidst limited resources. In the
wake of the decision of the WPC to increase the spectrum
and royalty fee from Rs 19,700 to Rs 91,700 per annum, many of the potential
applicants are in an impasse and a decision to waive spectrum fee at least for fresh
applicants may be a welcome move to the CR movement.
Many of the countries have
sorted out this issue to an extent by setting up Community Radio Funds
(especially by commercial FM’s) to support CR stations (CR Compendium 2013). A
policy level decision to access resources from the Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) funds of business enterprises and to make it as tax free
donation can create a win-win situation. This move will help CRS to explore
opportunities of advertisements as per the CR policy stipulations. Nevertheless,
CRS can avail support from DAVP (Department of Advertisement and Visual
Publicity) empanelment through advertising government’s schemes and programs in
the radio. Estimates show that the total business given to CR station by DAVP
so far is Rs 52, 46,946 (up to 2012 December). Additionally, different
ministries and national as well as international agencies are funding for
community development programs of CRS. Beyond these, all the CRS shall work out a
social enterprise business model which should generate sufficient resource for
the sustenance of radio. For a long term solution, more debate on how CR can
discover the rural market as a medium for idea generation, resource
mobilization, training, marketing of products and services and community
empowerment is vital.
Training and Capacity Building: Issues in content development and lack of technical know-how on
maintenance and repair of equipments are the issues bothering CRS in India. The
online content sharing platform - www.edda.in enables the CRS to
source programs available in their languages. But more coordinated effort is
required to facilitate the participation of CRS to strengthen this content
sharing initiative. There is an urgent need to build the capacity of CR personnel at all levels –community reporters,
technical staff, programme producers and station managers which are vital to
achieve social sustainability. In order to ensure technical
sustainability of CRS, aspects like training on technical know-how, site
selection criteria, insurance facilities, quality concerns, and research on
cost effective equipments need to be done.
Regulations: It
is observed that there is no effective mechanism to monitor the activities of CRS.
Rather than self regulation, there should be regulating agency to control the
operation of CRS and to ensure that the operations are in compliance with the
CR guidelines. Even though the MI&B looks forward
to reach community becoming the owner of the Community Radio station (CRS), the
dominance of owning institutions and the menace of ‘NGOisation’ practice remain
as a hurdle to attain the complete community ownership. Similarly, Ministry should chalk out a plan
to overcome the reluctance to issue license to border states considering
certain security concerns, by strengthening the surveillance systems and
monitoring mechanisms.
Community
Radio has a significant impact in the lives of people and plays a vital role in
updating, educating, persuading and entertaining citizens in all walks of life.
It has made revolutionary developments in the sector of communication and becoming
the pulse of community. Albeit, we need to go a long way to achieve
sustainability in certain aspects, we have multitude of success stories to say.
Despite uncertainties, we move with optimism – one day people will own their
radio completely.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
References
- Abiding Voices – A Study of Sustainability Aspects of Community Radio in India by CEMCA-UNICEF, 2012
- Community Radio Awareness Background Material (2012-13), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MI&B), Government of India
- Community Radio- Celebrating a Decade of People’s Voice, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MI&B), Government of India, Compendium – 2013 by One World Foundation India
- Compendium 2011 and 2012, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MI&B), by Commonwealth Educational Media Centre forAsia (CEMCA), New Delhi
- Public Service Broadcasting, Yojana Special Edition, July 2013
(Paul V Mathew and Manu Mewin Joy, Research
Scholars, School of Management Studies (SMS), Cochin University of Science and
Technology (CUSAT). Email: paulvmathew.hr@gmail.com,
and manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
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