Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur on February 13 released revised policy guidelines for setting up Community Radio Stations (CRS) in India on the occasion of World Radio Day.
The guidelines include an increase in advertising rate to ₹74 per 10 seconds and advertising time to 12 minutes per hour. They also provide that 50% of the Advisory and Content Committee members will be women.
Mr. Thakur released the guidelines during the Regional Community Radio Sammelan (South) at Anna University, Chennai. Speaking on the occasion, he highlighted the importance of community radio in his keynote address: “Community radio stations offer a platform where content is disseminated in localised dialects and regional languages. Local, context-specific issues are raised and discussed in these stations in local idioms. The government is committed to its mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas aur Sabka Prayas’. It is important to realise the importance of community radio in this direction,” he said.
Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann ki Baat had shown through personal example how important the medium of radio was, the Minister said each CRS was a reflection of the local model that had been built over the years, and the experiential learnings that had been collected and shared.
“Community radio is a pioneering concept and provides a platform to unheard voices from the community. These stations are one of the best ways to reach out intimately and directly to the people as these stations create locally relevant programmes useful to the community,” L. Murugan, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, said:
“There is a huge potential to set up many more community radio stations in India, given the vast landscape of this country,” he said.
The two-day Regional Community Radio Sammelan for southern CRS’ also marked the completion of 20 years of community radio in India. More than 100 CRSs of the southern States and Union Territories are attending the gathering along with other community media experts. Currently, there are 481 CRS’ in the country, and in the last two years, over 133 CRS’ have become operational.
The revised policy guidelines provide that an eligible organisation operating in multiple districts would be allowed to set up a maximum of six CRS’ in different districts of operation, provided it fulfils certain conditions laid by the Ministry.
The initial time period for the ‘Grant of Permission Agreement’ has been increased to 10 years. The validity of the Letter of Intent issued to an organisation has been fixed at one year. A buffer of three months is given to the applicant for unforeseen circumstances, and the timeline for the complete application process has also been fixed.
