'Radio raids' expose India's corrupt The BBC World Service "I Challenge" series looks at individuals around the world who have challenged authority, traditions and beliefs in the face of enormous odds.
Here, we speak to Stalin K, a human rights activist who has being running a revolutionary radio programme to expose corruption in India's western Gujarat province. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4219362.stm [...] A more aggressive style of reporting involved so-called "radio raids", where a whole team of reporters would focus entirely on one particular issue. One of those involved a doctor who was charging women for delivering their babies at a community health centre, when in fact the service is supposed to be free for poor people. The programme's expose led to a government inquiry into primary health centres across the country where illegal charging was believed to be taking place. "It's not only changed the public's view of reporting but it's changed the people's expectation of accountability within the authorities," says radio reporter Binu Alexander. But the biggest obstacle to community radio is the government's refusal to let programmes like Stalin K's broadcast independently. Despite a Supreme Court ruling in the mid-1990s declaring the airwaves public property, the government is wary about giving such programmes total freedom from state control. YOU CAN SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY RADIO FORUM (India) BY JOINING AND TAKING AN ACTIVE PART IN ONE OF THESE NETWORKS http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-awareness (Awareness building) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-helpdesk (Offering help) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-policy-advocacy (Policy advocacy) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-techoptions (Technical options) _______________________________________________ cr-india mailing list [email protected] https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india
