[cr-india] Community radio is a necessity in North East: Kandarpa Das (RnM)

[Frederick Noronha]

http://www.radioandmusic.com/content/editorial/news/community-radio-a-necessity-north-east-kandarpa-das

Community radio is a necessity in North East: Kandarpa Das

RnM Team    18 Apr 13 18:50 IST

MUMBAI: Communicating developmental plans and schemes of the government to
people in the grassroots level, is the major task of community radio (CR)
stations. But even as they work towards attaining their goals, most
stations face challenges of sustainability in terms of finance and content.
These challenges are no different for CR’s of Assam that are located in the
south of the eastern Himalayas.

Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Community Radio Association national
president Kandarpa Das said, “We communicate educational and developmental
issues to people at grassroots level. But to cover Assam as a whole we need
atleast 100 stations because of the dacoit area.”

Assam has a long way to go in terms of community radio stations as they
have just two community radio stations in the state and geographically, CR
will help them create and spread more local content.

“We update our content on radio with the feedback we receive from the
community. Based on the feedback we normally keep on altering. We do this
once in six months. In Assam, common people like to hear their own voice
and also identify the content that is broadcasted. Audiences enjoy
listening to live programs where they can participate and put forth their
issues and feedback on social and other related issues. They like hearing
their own opinion that is more popular,” said Das.

One of the community radio of Assam, Radio Luit 90.8 FM in Guwahati
broadcasts 12 hours a day with the help of volunteers. The first programme
starts at 8 in the morning and covers educational programmes, women related
issues, women empowerment and superstitious topics amongst others. They
also have an open forum where they can speak about certain issues.

He further added, “During one workshop, the association had realized that
many people are interested in establishing CR stations. But when
establishing a station, one needs to procure the instruments and to run it
in a sustainable way is a real challenge. If government spends more funds
there will be many more stations in north east. Since the North East region
is a dacoit area, CR is a necessity in this part of country than in other
parts of the region.”

Das hopes to have a design in place soon, that make community radio
sustainable as ultimately it contributes to the government agenda for
development; as what the government cannot do is done by community



FN +91-832-2409490 or +91-9822122436 fn at goa-india.org
Audio recordings (mostly from Goa): http://bit.ly/GoaRecordings
Goa,1556 http://www.scribd.com/doc/76671049/Goa1556-Catalogue-Books-from-Goa
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