Workshop on community radio begins at Abids

Hyderabad: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB), in association with Community Radio Association (CRA), is organising a three-day community radio awareness workshop. The workshop was inaugurated on Friday at Abids.

Around 40 enthusiastic academicians, NGOs, Institutes from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were given insight into community radio. All the delegates were given a walkthrough on the community radio, its policy guidelines and provisions, technical requirements, and understanding of communities and listeners for the purpose of engaging them with the radio.

The main objective of the workshop was to provide details on all aspects of how to apply for a community radio license and setting up a radio station. MoIB officials and experts from operational radio stations provided special insights into policy, guidelines, the day-to-day operations and challenges. They shared their gratifying experiences of engaging with this people’s medium. The experts provided deep insights on the CR policy and application process. CR sustainability options and government schemes were also discussed at the workshop.

Unesco Chair for Community Media Prof Vinod Paverala said, “The community radio is a horizontal communication where people talk to each other and raise their issues to attract the possible solutions. It will give an insight on the policy makers to think for the problems of the people.” “The ministry is working to increase the number of CR stations by organizing CR awareness workshops in different parts of the country. Currently, there are 242 functional CR stations in the country,” said Amit Dwivedi, assistant project director at MoIB.

“Community Radio can bring solutions onto a single platform, voice them and contribute to the society for developmental changes,” said Salil Kader, advisor at Ministry of Cultural Affairs. CRA President NA Shah Ansari said, “Community radio is different from mainstream media. It can share important information that will be helpful for the local people. Community radio can reach to the unheard communities where the mainstream media cannot.”