[cr-india] 'TNAU plans to start six Community Radio Stations' - is this allowed/desirable?

[N.Ramakrishnan]

Kanchan, you may remember that TNAU had previously applied for 20 
licenses in one go - for its outreach stations and agricultural 
extension units. They were refused, because they were all extension 
units of a single agency - the TNAU.
The KVKs, on the other hand, are independent entities in terms of 
registration. So yes, technically, they could all get licenses. And this 
time, since TNAU would probably be more in the way of a donor or 
coordinating agency, they've probably got it right. Having said that, I 
totally understand what you're saying - and this smacks of proxy 
ownership, which is really irritating.
But, to be fair, the idea of KVKs being included in the policy is a 
problematic one per se: KVKs are essentially outposts of the Ministry of 
Agriculture anyway; and because the purpose of farm radio is different 
from the freedom of expression/grassroots media ownership that CR was 
originally envisioned within.
Let's hope we're able to fix this when the policy guidelines get 
revised. That's something else that's been on the cards for years, 
despite a revision that we all contributed to in 2012!
Ramakrishnan

N.Ramakrishnan

Executive Director
Ideosync Media Combine
H.No.1381, Sector 37
Faridabad - 121 003
Haryana - India

Tel: +91-0129-4131883/4064883/4065883/6510156
Mobile: +91-9810273883
Web: www.ideosyncmedia.org
Twitter: @ideosyncmedia

On 11/12/14 6:03 PM, Kanchan K. Malik wrote:
> Just wondering after reading the news item below, if it is possible 
> for one University to have six CR stations? I understand that 
> technically, the licenses could be issued separately for all the six 
> KVKs... but is this not contrary to the spirit/provision within the CR 
> guidelines that states, "An applicant/organisation shall not be 
> granted more than one Permission for CRS operation at one or more 
> places." ??
>
> Kanchan
>
>
>     TNAU plans to start six Community Radio Stations
>
> In an effort to reach out to more farmers and members of the public, 
> the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is planning to start 
> more Community Radio Stations.
>
> The university has written to the Ministry of Information and 
> Broadcasting seeking permission to start six such stations at the 
> Krishi Vigyan Kendras in Villupuram, Cuddalore, Tiiruvarur, 
> Nagapattinam, Pudukottai and Virudhunagar districts.
>
> The application was sent more than a month ago and the Ministry was 
> considering the same, sources said.
>
> *Fund
> *Once sanctioned, the varsity would require Rs. 90 lakh to set up the 
> stations. It planned to secure Rs. 65 lakh under the 'Agriculture 
> Technology Management Agency' fund and was working out to meet the 
> balance amount and also the operational cost that included salary and 
> content creation expenses. The radio stations would help in content 
> sharing and bring in variety into programmes.
>
> At present the university had only one station on its campus in 
> Coimbatore catering to listeners within a 20 km radius, the sources said.
>
> *Programmes*/**/
>
> Since December 2010, the community radio station had been airing 
> programmes for four hours a day -- between 10 a.m. and noon and 2 and 
> 4 p.m., repeating the programme in the second transmission, said N. 
> Koma, who manages the station.
>
> The two-hour programme includes interviews with leading farmers, 
> entrepreneurs, transmission of success stories, inputs from experts on 
> crop and pest management. Her team had roped in students to host the 
> programme.
>
> C. Karthikeyan, faculty, Agriculture Extension and Rural Sociology 
> said the students would undergo a course in 'Development 
> Communication' for which they would visit the radio station to learn 
> about its functioning.
>
> B.Tech. student A.M. Shenaz Parvin said that the 25 programmes she had 
> hosted in the radio station in her two years of study had given her 
> experience that she could not get in classrooms. "I have learnt to 
> improve my communication, make it simple and direct and encourage the 
> guests to talk more."
>
> T. Shanmugam of Vellalore said that he was making good use of the 
> ideas on bee rearing and mushroom cultivation to multiply his income. 
> He's a daily wager at a mill here and was hooked onto the station only 
> a month ago.
>
> Source: The Hindu 
> <http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/tnau-plans-community-radio-stations-at-kvks/article6616879.ece>
>
>
> -- 
>
> *Dr. Kanchan K. Malik*
>
> Associate Professor, Department of Communication
>
> Faculty Fellow, UNESCO Chair on Community Media
>
> Sarojini Naidu School of Arts & Communication
>
> University of Hyderabad
>
> Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500046
>
> Phone: +91-40-23135506 (O)
>
>            +91-990-858-2613 (M)
>
>
>
> Join the Community Radio Forum.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.mail.sarai.net/pipermail/cr-india_mail.sarai.net/attachments/20141212/43ddd755/attachment.html>