[cr-india] [World Bank Community Radio in Oravakal]

[Frederick Noronha]

Not sure if Satheesh's msg went thru. So resending it again. FN

On Tue, 8 Oct 2002, SATHEESH wrote:


> Dear Fred
> 
> This is what I wrote.
> 
> thanks
> 
> satheesh
> 
> Dear members of the Cr Radio
> 
> I have copied the article that Vikram Chrishna mentions. This raises a
> fundamental question. When the Deccan Development Society and others
> applied for broadcast licenses as far back as 1998, we were not allowed.
> There was a terse two line reply from the Ministry that the giving
> license to community radio stations is still not under discussion. In
> fact there was a veiled threat that the Government would take legal
> action against DDS for setting up an infrastructure for community radio.
> 
> But suddenly we see THE WORLD BANK setting up the first cr in India. And
> that is also not a community-driven affair. It is the World Bank lead
> cosemtic intervention by the Chandrababu Naidu government. And I think
> it should be a very sad day for all media democrats in this country that
> World Bank gets a green signal whereas the Indian NGOs and communities
> get a different treatment. It is a strange irony that an  empowering
> movement must be initiated through the fiancial muscle of World Bank and
> the political muscle of Chandrababu Naidu. If the intentions of
> both were genuine, one could have said hurrah to this. But one knows
> that both the institution and the person are expert hijackers of the
> empowerment
> slogans for their own political agenda, to mask the rest of their
> anti-people programmes.
> 
> So where do we stand now. The legal experts in the cr network, can you
> please tell us how can we use this for a legal action against I & B
> Ministry?
> 
> Sevanti Ninan, can you please write about this irony how World Bank has
> to intervene even to do things that Indian NGOs have been demanding for
> decades now?
> 
> Vinod, VOICES, Bandana and others, what happened to your mediations? And
> how do you people react to this vandalism of our own governments?
> 
> satheesh
> 
> It would be of interest to you to note that the Ku Band TV that the
> Chandrababu Naidu has started in AP is also called Mana TV [Our TV]. It
> is pure
> government propaganda, which Naidu wants to call Public Education.
> Therefore Mana Radio [Our Radio] easily gives away its origins.
> 
> satheesh