Dear Dr. Sreedher, I read your post and am intrigued as to why you think that radio stations run by voluntary organization would be islands. In fact I would like to think that the very movement of Community Radio that started in 1996 may directly or indirectly lead to Gyan Vani and radio stations located in college campuses.
If you beg to differ please share the history of Gyan Vani as movement, inspiration etc right from the genesis of the idea to its reality. Plus anyone in this list about the missing link as to how academic institutes became eligible for license overnight while us lobbying for years became eligible in 2006? (Vikram and Sajan you are closer to power houses than me, I would love to hear from you) Sir, before community radio comes radio license and it is the Starting Point for any broadcast - Its use it for education, entertainment, agriculture, health etc is what makes it education radio, agriculture radio, entertainment radio and so forth. So I am not against any kind of broadcast as long as it does not violate the AIR code and objective of broadcast is achieved. Somewhere along the way the turn of events did not come out the way it was anticipated. The initial food for thought for CR at micro level (of course we have SITE experiment but the scope was much larger) ) was the Bangalore Declaration in 1996). This set the ball rolling in all quarters. We had several meeting, conferences, deliberations at policy level after the declaration and capacity building at grassroots level by way of narrow casting, buying time from AIR and so forth started as well. So i guess I would like to think that instead of islands the initiatives are ' oceans (vast but connected)' on which education and campus radio ideas may have floated. Since the movement was transparent many officials from I&B were invited on board who within their limitations assured help, represent our cause, became members of various forums. Then one fine day in 2000 it was learnt that IGNOU got permission to broadcast educational programs under Gyan Vani and in 2001 its first station went on air. I took it positively as it made me think that govt is becoming liberal and soon CR license to voluntary organizations would also follow. But in 2002 decision to grant radio broadcast license for academic institutes which the I&B tagged as CR license was announced. I was even more optimistic next would voluntary organizations for sure I thought. But the two development lead me to ask myself (and now to all in the list) that perhaps there are few influential people in the corridors of power who did not lobby hard and with the wherewith all got the govt order released for GV and later for academic institutes. Question is why did not they lobby for voluntary organizations. This reminds me of a coincidence (or is it?). In my presentation on Agriculture broadcast at Manipal Institute of Communication in 2001 plus an article on same subject in i4d magazine I emphasized potential of SAU and Krishi Vigyan Kendra as agriculture broadcasters. In section a) of point 2 in CR guidelines of 2006 issued by I&B among the academic institutes academic institutes mentions State Agriculture Universities (SAU), ICAR institutions, and KVK's as eligible for radio license. SAU is already an academic institute why emphasize it in the 2006 guidelines as it eligible as per 2002 guidelines is my question. DDS has been into food security and there are agriculture based programs audio programs on wide issues. I have been trying to advocate agriculture broadcast for quite some time now. It would be nice to know the groups or individual who lobbied for its inclusion in 2006. Question here is how come agriculture became a important element for consideration for I&B Ministry fro specific consideration? And now that voluntary organizations are eligible for license since 2006 you have your doubts and apprehensions at a time when we have not even started as mass movement. As you mention in your mail point 2 ' CR is for inclusive society'. agreed 100 per cent. Question is why were voluntary organizations 'excluded' in 2002, why did not (or did not want to) those who lobbied for Gyan Vani and later academic institutes include for voluntary organizations in their proposal? Was it the fear that the islands would be more of political nature than true CR? Well if that would have been the case, I & B has the powers to cancel the license if it deems necessary if it thinks is political. At the end I would like to summarize is that we need to incorporate common connecting links for all the CR radio stations which will bridge the island with unique linguistic, cultural and geographical vastness. Agriculture matters, education, and entertainment will be the building blocks for the bridges provided that the blocks should be same by way adopting common broadcast policy under each head that is missing in the current policy by the government. Much needs to be done in terms for setting benchmark for broadcast for the voluntary sector. This is just the beginning of the learning curve for those who new to the concept. Looking forward to more healthy debate in this subject. Best regards, Mahesh Disclaimer. The views above are based on my experience and association with CR movement for its beginning. No offense meant to anybody either intentionally or unintentionally. Please read and reply good spirit.
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