Community Radio can play a crucial role in disaster management

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting today suggested to the Disaster Management Authority to fund the setting up of community radio as the medium could play a crucial role in giving timely information to people in any emergency situation.

Speaking at a seminar on information and security issues, Additional Secretary Uday Verma said the disaster caused by the tsunami in the areas bordering the Indian Ocean could have been avoided to a great extent had there been a chain of Community radio to broadcast the warning to the people.

He said one of the major challenges before the sector was to find new models of funding and suggested that Panchayati Raj institutions and the Disaster Management Authorities could well come ahead to fund the medium.

Pointing out to the projected growth in the number of mobile phones which would cover 60 per cent of the population by 2019, Mr Verma said since radio could be received on mobile phones, its reach could not be matched by any other medium at present.

The community radio was bound to become popular as it was based on local content created by the local people, he said.

He said it was in view of the potential of the community radio as an instrument of social change, that the Government had in a major shift in the policy allowed NGOs, public trust and other registered bodies of the civil society to operate in the field.

In the beginning, only educational institutions were permitted to set up comunity radio.

Now, under the new policy a large variety of institutions could set up community radio. Licence period has been increased to five years from three and no separate clearance was required from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Moreover, bank gurantee amount has been reduced to Rs 25000, he said.

Owning to the sensitivity of the medium, there were restrictions on content and no privately sponsored programes were allowed.

-- (UNI) -- 22DI65.xml

Viewer's Comment

Your work is very nice.i want to mearg my community radio team patna in bihar.we work on disaster . like flood in araria distric in bihar
Posted by : Rakesh (Patna) On : 9/9/2010 10:27:21 AM

More Stories