Community Radio in Shivpuri goes on air India Blooms News Service Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh), Oct 9 (IBNS) District Collector Shivpuri Raj Kumar Pathak pressed the button and the voice of Champa Adivasi was on air in Shivpuri on FM frequency 107.8 MHZ.
This is frequency of Radio Dharkan, Community radio station set up at Shivpuri went up on air. Tania Goldner, Chief UNICEF office for Madhya Pradesh and Supriya Mukherjee, Programme Communication Specialist were present with him. An event was organsied to mark this at the radio station. Speaking at the event, District Collector Raj Kuma Pathak praised this effort and said that this will help in reaching out to communities and creating awareness among them on the Government Schemes. Goldner said that purpose of the radio is to connect, entertain and educate. "I am happy that it is happening and now it is going full steam. It will be on air every day. It your radio for and by people. It will talk about your rights, demand services, empower your for your meaningful participation. It would be heart beat of the community," she said. Supriya Mukherjee, Programme Communication Specialist, UNICEF, India said: "This Radio Dharkhan is your radio." She also shared that UNICEF has supported NGOs in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to set up the radio station and is supporting NGOs in Orissa, Assam, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar to start community radio there. Dharkan radio station has been established by Sambhav, an NGO to serve the different communities within 15 km (Max) radius around Shivpuri HQ with support from UNICEF. The project of setting up of the Radio Station was initiated with a community needs assessment comprising both quantitative and qualitative components. At the event organized on Saturday at Shivpuri, hundreds of communities from in and around Shivpuri participated. Radio Jockey Vandana shared, when they first started and were tense how will be happen, but they were trained and now she is excited that finally this is going on air. S C Verma, CEO Zila Panchayat, Suresh Tomar, Joint Director Women and Child Development Department, Bhai Shelly and Anil Gulati of UNICEF were present. Objective of the radio station is to provide information and encouraging community for adopting education, health, sanitation and life saving behaviors. Spread information about various government schemes in community, so that they benefit out of them and promoting local folk culture. Prior to the event, Goldner visited Karsena village in Shivpuri district wherein she interacted with mothers, children and anganwadai workers. She told IBNS that there is need to build awareness among communities, as people still not aware of all the schemes and services as provided by the State. She also met mothers of children who were severely malnourished and even few mothers who were reluctant to send the kids to Nutritional Rehabilitation centre as parents had to go to work. She said that Children who are sick or need care cannot be left for other priorities, or else they may suffer. Need is to work out a plan which can convince parents to react to malnutrition and offer them support. http://www.indiablooms.com/NewsDetailsPage/newsDetails091010k.php -- Nookaraju Bendukurthi Ph.D. Scholar Department of Communication S N School of Arts and Communication University of Hyderabad Gachibowli,Hyderabad-500 046 Andhra Pradesh,India Ph:09989306757 Join the Community Radio Forum. For membership details, please go to www.crforum.in
