[cr-india] Opening up of educational radio in India

[Vickram Crishna]

At 7:22 AM -0800 04/03/2003, Atanu Garai wrote:
>It is true that the application form for setting up the radio 
>station is mentioning only of the educational institutions.My own 
>opinion in this regard the scope and potential of such radio 
>broadcast is quite low.Educational institutions offering higher 
>education more or less are prone to offering their students high-end 
>information and communication solutions.
>On the other hand community based development 
>organizations,particularly those rae working in the field of rural 
>development, can effectively utilise this media.

In an ideal world, small village communities would be petitioning in 
every way possible to have this right restored to them. The reality 
is that years/centuries of having very low levels of local governance 
has reduced awareness of these possibilities.

One effective way of awakening them is to organize a tour - a yatra 
if you will - of portable broadcasting studios and conducting 
awareness meetings in villages using a temporary setup to demonstrate 
how it works.

This is where NGOs of the type Atanu looks for in his mail can play 
an effective role. Once they have succeeded in making villagers aware 
of their power to own their own media, they can continue in an aid 
mode, to build support till the station finds a model of its own to 
function by - in short, finds its feet.

>The notion is clear enough - educational institutions have divergent 
>focus and different agendas,they seldom will find enough zeal and 
>resource for running a truly effective radio broadcasting station, 
>unless the students groups themselves become enthusiastic enough to 
>run such program.Otherwise,the departments of adult and continuing 
>educations might find it useful.

Hardly likely that this can happen effectively... the institutions 
tend to be located in areas where the need for this function is 
minimal. Of course students should also have this facility... it is 
an excellent self-training model for building organizational and 
project managing skills. Aside from the fun on being on air. Why have 
an exclusionary policy?


-- 
Vickram