[cr-india] The CR debate on the Dgroups list

[sajan venniyoor]

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On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 Frederick Noronha (FN) wrote :
Needless to say, I disagree with Sajan's suggestions that (i) we
>need to restricts our goals/visions only to what "the Government will
>permit" and (ii) that the lack of functioning CR stations *in India*
>(there are hundreds on the planet, including in some very conflict->prone >regions) is something that is very important to us at this >point of time.

As I just wrote to the Dgroups list, "this is where Fred and I part ways. Politics is the art of the possible, and we should set realistic goals. The existing CR Guidelines allow 50 watt transmitters. That’s the upper limit, and no lower limit is prescribed. Which means that, technically, you are permitted to run Very Low Power FM transmitters (micropower FM). While there is no license fee for Community Radio, there is a hefty Spectrum Usage Fee levied by the Dept. of Telecom, a Rs.50,000/- bank guarantee and other expenses. It simply isn’t cost effective to spend all that money + production costs, when you only want a very low power station to cover a kilometer or two. The WPC is extremely parsimonious with frequency allocation, and we have to consider whether it is worth blocking an FM frequency for a micro-power station, when it may be the only frequency allotted in that area.

The issue is quite simple. The existing CR policy is viable, except for two critical restrictions: the ban on non-campus radio and the ban on advertisements. We could campaign for these vital amendments to the existing CR Guidelines – which will open up community radios to real communities and make them financially sustainable. This can be achieved by an executive order, in a reasonable timeframe. And the policy can be revised incrementally.  Or we can battle for a complete revamp of radio policy. This would require political interventions at the highest level, would have to be cleared by Parliament, and would probably take more years than I have left in my life."

Sajan.