Community Radio: Bridging Digital Divide and Gaining Digital Dividend

Community Radio as a tool for rural communication

Paul V Mathew

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.

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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.       

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 73^rd and 74^th 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 12^th 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.

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References

1. Abiding Voices – A Study of Sustainability Aspects of Community Radio in India by CEMCA-UNICEF, 2012
2. Community Radio Awareness Background Material (2012-13), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MI&B), Government of India
3. 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
4. Compendium 2011 and 2012, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MI&B), by Commonwealth Educational Media Centre forAsia (CEMCA), New Delhi
5. Public Service Broadcasting, Yojana Special Edition, July 2013

Copy right : Paul V Mathew and Manu Melwin Joy (2013), JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT, MACFAST
(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

Read more at http://yojana.gov.in/cms/%28S%28a2idwk55peroiv45qxvv2cnj%29%29/pdf/Yojana%5CEnglish%5C2013/Yojana%20July%202013.pdf