[cr-india] CRIndia's archives on Yahoogroups! (I had forgotten it existed)

[Frederick Noronha]

Good news! I managed to find this list on Yahoogroups...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CR-India/
which has archives going back to June 2001.
Don't know how complete it is, but do check it out! FN

Okay, here's a first post for nostalgia's sake :-) FN


Fm Frederick Noronha Goa | Phone 0832.409490 or 409473
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UNESCO BACKS COMMUNITY RADIO INITIATIVES IN INDIA
by Frederick Noronha, India Abroad News Service

HYDERABAD, July 21: UNESCO is keen to support the setting up of
non-profit 'community radio' initiatives across India and the
rest of South Asia, even as radio airwaves are currently being
speedily opened up to major commercial players in this country.

"UNESCO is committed to encouraging the free-flow of information.
It is already supporting the initiatives of community radio
development in India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka," UNESCO
representative to India and director Professor Moegiadi told IANS
here (NOTE TO EDITOR: ONE NAME ONLY).

Prof. Moegiadi opened a national meet on community radio which
ended here Thursday.

Educationalists and voluntary organisations from across the
country, particularly South India, have been looking forward
eagerly for the government in New Delhi to open the airwaves for
broadcast by non-profit groups.

"We have set up a studio and are awaiting. Years back it seemed
that community radio was on the point of being approved," said
said S. Satheesh of the Deccan Development Society, located in
Pastapur, some 100 kms away from here, in Andhra Pradesh's Medak
district.

Permissions for low-cost community radio has long been on the
cards. But while dozens of FM (frequency modulation) radio
stations are currently being set up by the private sector, the
rules for setting up non-profit stations are yet to be framed.
Even educational institutions, and varsities, have been waiting
patiently before they can reach out via the airwaves.

Earlier this year, dozens of private FM stations, being built by
media groups and other major organisations, were given permission
after they bid huge sums extending in tens of millions for slots
on the airwaves.

Non-profit and development organisations have been lobbying for
over the past five years, to get affordable permissions to
broadcast information that could help the "information poor" get
an understanding of issues critical to their lives.

"Can we use radio to transmit information, knowledge and skills
to allow people to improve their quality of life?" asked Prof
Moegiadi, backing this view.

Recently, neighbouring countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka edged
past India by allowing non-profit community radios to be set up.

Nepal's Radio Sagarmatha, run by a body of environmental
journalists, has attracted attention globally for its unique
style of operation -- and promoting a news-based and green
message -- in a sub-continent where radio has so far been tightly
government-controlled.

"In Sri Lanka, we are using a community radio station in Kotmale
to find information on the Internet, which readers ask for via
phone or post. This helps villagers to get access to the
information superhighway too," University of Colombo journalism
lecturer Michael J.R.David told IANS.

David (39) is project leader of the Kotmale community radio
station, which took off in May 1999 but is already being studied
worldwide as an innovative experiment in development
communication.

"Prime Minister Vajpayee recently lamented existing digital
divides. But what about using radio technology for relevant,
local communication in a country where over 80% have access to
it?" asked Ashish Sen of the Bangalore-based Voices. This
communication NGO that has been highlighting the potential of
non-profit community-run radio since the mid-nineties.

"We are straddled with a situation where FM radio might just
become the monopoly of private broadcasters who cold-shoulder
development issues," Sen told this correspondent.

India's state-owned All India Radio had set up a string of local
radio stations some years back. But without carrying these plans
through effectively, the stations were mostly not locally-
relevant and community-run.

By contrast, community stations can play a very different role.
"We've had people coming runing to the station saying their cow
had gone astray, and other listners help to locate them. In
another case, the child appealed to his mother to return to the
husband she abandoned, and it worked," says David from Sri Lanka.

Repeated collapses of central governments in India, and
feetdragging by officials, has meant that community radio is
still to become a reality in this country.

Incidentally, Bazlur Rahman of the Bangladesh Coastal NGOs
Network for Radio and Communication, told IANS that Dhaka is
expected to license non-profit radio for community groups in 2001.

In the mid-nineties, an Indian supreme court judgement which laid
down that "airwaves are public property" and suggested that a
government monopoly could not be treated as public property.

Said Dr. T.H. Chowdary, advisor to Andhra Pradesh chief minister
Chandrababu Naidu on technology matters, commented: "On FM, the
bandwidth permits a very large number of low-powered radio
transmitters. There could be upto 5000 FM stations, or as many
tehsils (district sub-divisions) as there are in India." (ENDS)
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