The High Court in Mumbai
(http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-22/mumbai/31224327_1_loudspeakers-sound-system-decibel-levels)
directed the city to permit open air concerts held using distributed sound
systems, proven to successfully deal with the question of managing sound
dissipating into the open air. The Banganga classical music concerts, held to
attract funds for the maintenance of the Banganga tank and temple complex in
Mumbai, were stymied for a year when a previous court order effectively banned
any music in the open. By using very low power FM to disseminate the stage
sound to the audience, using small radio receivers placed closer to the
audience, not only proved that an audience could be delivered high quality
classical music from a live performance, that the sound did not spread outside
of the audience area, but also established that using more and more
power-intensive amplification in order to deliver sound to the farther
reaches of a large audience, a trend that is painfully audible in many
places, is neither necessary nor workable.
Needless to say, neither the success of the concerts (now, alas, shut down
after a run of 3 years due to excessive interference by the state government in
the good work of the Trust maintaining the temple area) nor the obvious
advantages of the intrinsic value of FM as a limited reach medium has had any
influence at all on the blinkered self-appointed mandarins infesting the
paan-spattered corridors of power in Delhi.
Of course, now that the principle is established, it is perfectly possible to
hold some kinds of concerts with distributed sounds systems even without using
FM or wireless at all, but there are plenty of locations - sports events, for
instance - where only wireless can deliver the best results. This is already
routine in the UK, for instance, where a local LPFM license is granted for 3
days to sports events for a nominal charge so that the audience can get a
running commentary inside the stadium (or field, in the case of many county
events, where no stadium exists). And it is not as though this would not spur
any kind of economic activity in India - only, it would necessarily be very
local, more a Raghav Mahto than a Samir Jain, if you get my point, although the
above news item is in fact linked to the Times of India. The Raghav Mahtos of
the world get short shrift from centralised government systems that are
designed to control rather than to support,
and funnel continuous cash streams as a by-blow.
I reiterate the point made earlier, that we have to resist efforts by the
government to appropriate powers not implicitly or explicitly granted to it
under the Constitution, instead of begging the Ministry for favours. Efforts to
change the system from within are doomed to frsutration, as the rot has spread
throughout the entire mechanism - indeed, the mechanism was born with that
point of view, by an occupying colonial power, and we have failed in sixty
years to bring in the kind of reform necessary to sustain a self-reliant
nation.
Vickram
http://communicall.wordpress.com
http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com
>________________________________
> From: Vickram Crishna <[email protected]>
>To: CR India <[email protected]>
>Sent: Thursday, 22 March 2012, 0:34
>Subject: Re: [cr-india] What holds back CR in India - InterPress news story
>
>
>When do 'security concerns' become 'propagandist paranoia'?
>
>
>I don't want to discount genuine terrorism (both local and foreign inspired),
>hate crimes and genocide, but how do these tolls (as though deaths can be
>compared or valued) measure up to the continuing misery brought about by
>misrule and miserable governance? The death count due to mismanagement of
>markets leading to farmer suicides, deplorable mass displacement and loss of
>livelihood is matched by deaths due to train disasters, road traffic
>disasters, pollution and poisoning of land and water.
>
>
>It may come as a salutory surprise to listmembers, but the Constitution of
>India grants citizens many rights, some explicit and some implicit, again some
>of which have later been specifically affirmed by Constitution-related
>decisions by the judiciary. It does not grant the government any rights to
>govern, however. Any such rights have been misappropriated (and tacitly
>affirmed by both the judiciary and the citizenry), thus diminishing this
>nation.
>
>
>We have not been focusing our efforts in the right direction to correct this
>foolishness. We still tend to treat the right to media (free speech) as
>something we have to implore the government to grant, rather than a right they
>have to fight us to restrict. And we aren't the ones who made it 'us' and
>'them'.
>
>Vickram
>http://communicall.wordpress.com
>http://vvcrishna.wordpress.com
>
>
>
>>________________________________
>> From: Arti Jaiman <[email protected]>
>>To: CR India <[email protected]>
>>Sent: Wednesday, 21 March 2012, 21:59
>>Subject: [cr-india] What holds back CR in India - InterPress news story
>>
>>
>>An Interpress news story on what holds back community radio
>>http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107150
>>
>>Red Tape Mutes Community Radio in India
>>
>>by K. S. Harikrishnan*
>>
>>THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India, Mar 21 (IPS) - Security concerns
appear to have stymied the growth of community radio (CR) in India, a
vast and diverse country of 1.2 billion people, the bulk of them living
in remote, rural areas.
>>
>>"There are too many ministries and departments involved in
the CR licensing process, and remote border states in the northeast
adjacent to Burma have been left out, for example," says Sajan
Venniyoor, member of a government committee constituted to fund new
stations.
>>
>>Also left out are the Kashmir valley, racked by a separatist movement,
and the largely tribal states of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh in central
India that have been hit by Maoist insurgency.
>>
>>Radio Ujjas, licensed to the non-profit Kutch Women's Development
Organisation, became India’s first CR station close to its international
border when it started broadcasting on Mar. 10, 2012. Located in
Gujarat’s Bhimsar village, close to the Pakistan border, it applied for a
license five years ago.
>>
>>Prof. Kanchan Malik, at the department of communication, University of
Hyderabad, told IPS that the processes to set up CR stations should be
simplified if they are to play their mandated role of empowering
marginalised communities and helping conflict resolution.
>>
>>"Cumbersome licensing processes, a ban on news programmes, lack of
cost-effective technology, funding restrictions, inadequate capacity
building and spectrum allocation delays or denials" are some of the
hurdles in the way of CR stations coming up, she said.
>>
>>The campaign to give space to CR in India - in addition to commercial
and public broadcasting - began in earnest after the Supreme Court ruled
in February 1995 that airwaves are public property and could not be
government monopoly.
>>
>>But, it was not until 2004 that India’s first CR could be launched, run
by the Education and Multimedia Research Centre of Anna University in
southern Chennai city.
>>
>>The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry has so far approved
363 proposals to set up CR stations in the country and, of these, 126
stations are operational.
>>
>>Of those running, 76 are owned by colleges, institutes and other
educational organisations, while only 36 are run by non-governmental
organisations, showing limited civil society involvement.
>>
>>Existing CR policy limits the award of licenses to not-for-profit
organisations with a proven track record of community service and
registered for not fewer than three years. Stringent restrictions have
also been placed on fundraising.
>>
>>CRs may operate a 100-watt radio station, with coverage limited to a
12-km radius and antenna height to 30 metres. Fifty percent of the
programmes are expected to be produced locally and in the local language
or dialect.
>>
>>News programmes are banned, except items concerned with sports,
traffic, weather conditions, cultural events and festivals, academic
events, electricity and water supply, disaster warnings and health
alerts.
>>
>>Five minutes of advertising per hour are allowed, but CR programmes cannot be
>>sponsored except by the government.
>>
>>According to the ‘Compendium of Community Radio Stations in India’,
published in 2011 by the New Delhi-based Commonwealth Education Media
Centre for Asia in association with I&B ministry, restrictions on
using high power equipment present a major difficulty.
>>
>>Lack of training in handling equipment and creating programmes,
inability to make strong content development, competition with
mainstream commercial radio stations, limitation in airing
advertisements and electricity failure are other hurdles, the compendium
showed.
>>
>>Activists say that women, tribal people, children, students, health
workers and fishers could vastly benefit from CR, going by the
experience of existing stations.
>>
>>"With the arrival of CR, neglected groups have an opportunity for active
participation in mainstream life," says Chennai-based rights activist
Mani Verma. "There has been, visibly, a revival of local culture and an
increase in literacy rates."
>>
>>"For a thickly populated, predominantly rural country like India,
reaching the masses and educating them is essential, and this can be
achieved fastest by utilising CR effectively," says P. Sajikumar, head
of 'Radio DC' in Thiruvananthapuram.
>>
>>A survey conducted by the DCSMAT School of Media and Business in this
city found that there was a need to create awareness about CR and its
capabilities. Often, the survey found, listeners failed to differentiate
between CR and commercial radio.
>>
>>"People tend to compare CR with commercial channels in every aspect,"
the survey said. "Participation of listeners at every stage of
production can be encouraged and importance given to young talent," it
suggested.
>>
>>According to Venniyoor, the advent of mobile phones has given a fillip
to CR because even the cheapest handsets come embedded with FM
capability. "With digitisation, it may get even better. It will
certainly get more interesting because of the explosive growth of mobile
telephony."
>>
>>"Right now, however, we need to concentrate on getting licenses and
setting up more stations," Venniyoor said. "The government has promised
support and we will just have to wait and see about actual
implementation."
>>
>>*This story was produced with the support of UNESCO.
>>
>>
>>Arti Jaiman
>>
>>Station Director : Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Samudayik Radio Station 107.8 MHz FM
>>email: [email protected]
>>website: www.trfindia.org
>>
>>Gurgaon Ki Awaaz is the first and only civil-society-led community radio
>>station in the National Capital Region of Delhi. We broadcast 24X7, in Hindi
>>and Haryanvi, with a team of community reporters, generating community
>>content, and community participation.
>>
>>Join the Community Radio Forum. For membership details, please go to
>>www.crforum.in
>>
>>
>Join the Community Radio Forum. For membership details, please go to
>www.crforum.in
>
>
Join the Community Radio Forum. For membership details, please go to
www.crforum.in
