[cr-india] Bihar villagers to shake a leg to FM radio tunes

Sat Jun 30 00:22:44 PDT 2007

Hear, hear! I believe Vinod has articulated what many of us have been 
feeling for a long time - things have drifted a bit since we met twice 
in February and March.The CR Forum really needs to step up to the plate 
and identify itself formally as the organization speaking for CR 
broadcasting in India, because increasingly there are other players who 
can lay stake to that claim solely on the grounds that they are more 
visible that the CRF. Not only is it about time CRF met with the 
ministry, I think it's about time it was formalized as a body - with the 
forum registered formally - and the memberships that were decided at the 
meeting were put into operation.
I think we should also give some serious thought to the idea of whether 
the Forum should have an operating office in Delhi, even if the 
Secretariat continues to be based in Ahmedabad or elsewhere. I know 
there is a distinct antipathy to the Delhi-centric approach among the 
Forum members, but we have to realize that the principals donors and 
ministry offices are in New Delhi, and that if the operations are based 
somewhere else, it is just asking for too much for people to come and go 
to the Ministry offices in Delhi or meet the UN system or any Delhi 
based organization on a regular basis (especially given that the Forum 
is not the only commitment for most of us). And a regular interface IS 
the need of the hour, especially given the concerns that Vinod has 
raised regarding the Bihar announcements.
Warmest,
Ramakrishnan

N.Ramakrishnan

Director of Projects
Ideosync Media Combine
177, Ashoka Enclave III
Sector 35, Faridabad - 121003
Haryana - India
Tel: +91-0129-4131883/6510156/2254395/2254396 (Prefix 95129- from Delhi)
Telfax: +91-0129-2254395 (Prefix 95129- from Delhi)
Mobile: +91-9810273883
Email: nram at ideosyncmedia.org

Vinod Pavarala wrote:
> This kind of misplaced state 'largesse' is precisely the kind of thing 
> that
> would not only dilute the spirit and intent of community radio, but would
> ultimately kill it. It is very important for the CR Forum and other cr
> enthusiasts and supporters to ensure that the new cr policy of the
> government does not either become a decoy for state broadcasting by other
> means or remain as NGO radio.
> It is high time representatives of the CR Forum met with Ministry 
> officials
> to find out how six months after the policy announcement, neither the
> applicants nor the public hear nothing about the progress of the
> applications.  When can India have its first community radio station?
> Meanwhile, friends in Nepal are telling us about the rapid expansion 
> of the
> community radio sector in spite of all their political troubles!
>
> vinod
>
>
> On 29 Jun 2007 08:31:34 -0000, sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at rediffmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> The story seems to suggest that the Bihar government is setting up
>> 'community radio' stations in the villages of Patna and Nalanda. What
>> exactly is their 'Community Radio Project'?
>>
>> In Karnataka, as in Punjab and Haryana, the state govt had only offered
>> limited funding to eligible NGOs/CSOs to set up community radio 
>> stations.
>> The Bihar project seems a lot more ambitious than that. An earlier 
>> story (16
>> June, ToI) stated that "the state government is seriously planning to 
>> launch
>> its own FM stations", and then qualified this eye-popping statement 
>> to say
>> that "the state government has selected 10 schools of Patna and Nalanda
>> districts to operate these FM stations."
>>
>> It is perfectly feasible for Bihar schools to apply for CR licenses. But
>> when you openly advertise that "these schools would transmit the 
>> programmes,
>> the contents of which would be prepared and developed at the Soochana
>> Bhavan", I don't see the Central Govt. falling over itself to hand 
>> over CR
>> licenses for the benefit of the state Information & Public Relations
>> Department (IPRD), the occupants of Soochana Bhavan.
>>
>> The ToI story helpfully adds that "the state government is planning 
>> to set
>> up 800-1,000 community radio stations." Did someone misplace a 
>> decimal point
>> or am I missing something here?
>>
>> Sajan
>>
>>
>> On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 sakthi vel wrote :
>> >After Karnataka farmers, it is now the turn of
>> >villagers in Bihar to swing to the tunes of FM radio.
>> >The Bihar government is actively considering providing
>> >all the villages with their own Frequency Modulation
>> >(FM) radio stations.
>> >
>> >If things go as planned, the FM radio stations would
>> >start broadcasting their programmes in the rural areas
>> >of Patna and Nalanda districts from November this year
>> >under the Community Radio Project, said Vivek Singh,
>> >Secretary of Information and Public Relation
>> >department here.
>> >////////////////
>> >Source: - Dnaindia.com <http://dnaindia.com/> 29/06
>>
>>
>>   [image: pick great 
>> mobiles]<http://adworks.rediff.com/cgi-bin/AdWorks/click.cgi/www.rediff.com/signature-home.htm/1050715198@Middle5/1239774_1233551/1238970/1?PARTNER=3&OAS_QUERY=null+target=new+> 
>>
>>
>> YOU CAN SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY RADIO FORUM (India) BY JOINING AND 
>> TAKING AN
>> ACTIVE PART IN ONE OF THESE NETWORKS
>>
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-awareness  (Awareness building)
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-helpdesk (Offering help)
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-policy-advocacy (Policy advocacy)
>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-techoptions (Technical options)
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> YOU CAN SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY RADIO FORUM (India) BY JOINING AND TAKING AN ACTIVE PART IN ONE OF THESE NETWORKS
>
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-awareness  (Awareness building)
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-helpdesk (Offering help)
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-policy-advocacy (Policy advocacy)
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crforum-techoptions (Technical options)
>
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