[cr-india] I&B standing committee report presented to LS

[vasuki belavadi]

Here's an excerpt from the report on Community Radio:
The entire report can be found at:
http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Information%20Technology/Final_Report.pdf

COMMUNITY RADIO
(xviii) Community Radio 100. During December, 2002, the Government of India
approved a Policy for grant of licenses for setting up of Community Radio
Stations to well established education institutions including IITs/IIMs. As
on date 130 CRS are operational in the country. 101. On being asked about
the total number of applications received since inception of the scheme,
the Ministry has informed that *1026* applications have been received since
2002 when the first policy on CRS was brought out. As regards the total
number of applications pending for grant of license, the Ministry has
submitted that out of 363 permissions issued so far, 165 Grant of
Permission Agreements (GOPA) have been signed.

 As on date 268 applications are under consideration for grant of
permission at various stages. Details are as below:-
i) Total number of applications Under Consideration: *268*
ii) Pending with concerned Ministries like MHA, MOD, WPC, MHRD & ICAR for
their clearances: 110
iii) Pending with Applicants –for want of requisite documents like
Registration, Certificate/details of governing body
members/Geo-co-ordinates &Height above sea level etc.: 143
iv) Applications Under Examination in the Ministry: 15
102. The details of number of applications pending with different
Ministries are as under:
MHA:42
MOD:23
WPC Wing:16
MHRD:14
ICAR:15

103. In the context of Financial support to CRS, the Committee desired to
know the status of setting up of a Corpus Fund for promoting Community
Radio movement in the country to which the Ministry has informed that a
Working Group has been constituted to suggest a mechanism to provide state
funding to CRS. The Working Group had suggested that a corpus fund may be
set up called Community Radio Support Fund of India (CRSFI) to assist
organizations in setting up CRS in India. However, it is found that the
Ministry of Finance has issued guidelines, vide letter No. F.1
(30)-B(AC)/2004 dated 07.01.2005 not to allow creation of funds either out
of revenue or out of Government borrowing. (xix) Planned Scheme of
Supporting Community Radio Movement in India 104. It was envisaged to bring
a Plan Scheme to provide financial support to CRS instead of corpus fund.
Therefore, the Ministry has requested a grant of ` 150 crore under the 12th
Plan scheme called ‗Supporting Community Radio Movement in India‘, to
provide grants to CRS. Grant size to stations will be in the range of ` 1
to 15 lakh, depending on the purpose for which the grant is sought. The
scheme has been sent to Planning Commission for in-principle approval.
Meanwhile an amount of ` 5 Crore has been allocated in BE 2012-13, out of
which ` 3 crore has been earmarked for funding and 2 crore for IEC
Activities. 105. Under the above scheme, provision has been made to award
grants for infrastructure /equipment to scale the growth of new community
radio stations especially in remote and rural areas that have little access
to media, as well as stations managed by disadvantaged and marginalized
communities. 106. Broadcasting Engineering Consultant India Ltd. (BECIL), a
PSE under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has designed cost
effective transmitter and antenna for CR stations. BECIL also helps CRS in
installation & maintenance throughout the country.
107. On being enquired as to why only ` 5 crore has been allocated under
the scheme when the Ministry had requested for grant of ` 150 crore under
Twelfth Plan scheme as a whole and by when the Ministry is likely to get
in-principle approval for the above scheme, the Ministry has stated that
more funds will be requested after in principle approval and the Ministry
is in touch with the Planning Commission for the same which may come
anytime.

warm regards
vasuki belavadi
-- 
*VASUKI BELAVADI*
*Associate Professor & Faculty Fellow, Unesco Chair on Community
Media<http://snscomm.uohyd.ernet.in/uccommedia/>
,
Department of Communication <http://snscomm.uohyd.ernet.in/comm/>,  University
of Hyderabad <http://www.uohyd.ac.in/>, Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500046,
Andhra Pradesh, India
Phone (Off): +91 40 23135505,  Email:  mailme at vasukibelavadi.com  /
**Skype: vbelavadi,
Linkedin: vasuki belavadi
Extensions <http://blog.vasukibelavadi.com>/
Website<http://www.vasukibelavadi.com>
/  Bol Hyderabad 90.4 fm <http://snscomm.uohyd.ernet.in/bolhyd/>*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india/attachments/20120621/0fb7dab4/attachment.html>