DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Rediscovering Community Radio

By Ranjit Devraj Reprint | | Print |

Ranjit Devraj

NEW DELHI, Apr 1 2001 (IPS) - In an age dominated by talk of information technology, community development workers in India’s villages, are rediscovering the value of old-fashioned radio in tackling sensitive issues such as gender equality and HIV.

“Radio is still the most effective means of communication in India,” says Shabnam Virmani of Drishti (vision) Media Collective.

Her group works with village women in the Kutch region of western Gujarat state, which was devastated late January by the country’s worst earthquake in half a century.

“Women in Kutch think radio empowers them because it gives them ready access to information — a privilege otherwise enjoyed exclusively by men,” says Virmani.

With the ‘Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan’ or Kutch Women’s Development Organisation, her group is using radio programmes to educate women who have been elected to ‘panchayats’ (village councils) under a constitutionally guaranteed gender quota for local bodies.

“Often these women are not aware of their political roles and are influenced by big party politics. We provide information to these women to build up for themselves an alternative value system through our programmes,” says Virmani.

The Kutch Women’s group is also airing on radio a programme called ‘You are Still Alive’, which gives people affected by the Jan. 26 earthquake, information on where and how to obtain government aid.

Using a lively mix of songs, music and talk with experts and ordinary people, the programme has become a lifeline for people who are trying to rebuild lives shattered by the earthquake, which killed over 20,000 people.

Drishti buys time for its programmes from the local stations of the All-India Radio, the Indian government’s vast monopoly radio network.

India’s Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling six years ago, threw open the airwaves to private operators to broadcast programmes meant “for the public good”.

Yet most community broadcasters like Drishti, have been unable to take advantage of this because of a lack of funds.

“There has been no serious encouragement or support for radio in spite of its vast potential — radio has now been completely marginalised by television and the internet,” says Says Akhila Sivadas, of the New Delhi-based Centre for Advocacy and Research.

“Unlike television, radio, monopolised as it is by the government, simply failed to market itself to advertisers,” adds Bhaskar Rao, who runs New Delhi’s well-known Centre for Media Studies.

Currently, radio is able to tap less than two percent of India’s estimated 1.5-billion-dollar advertising market, industry surveys show. According to Rao, radio has failed to build a relationship with the new economy because of continuing government control of the medium.

Sivadas’ centre is now working on content development for a community radio programme that will cover areas in neighbouring Nepal and northern India. This will use the latest radio technology, that will allow interaction with listeners.

Funded by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), the community radio scheme is meant for poor rural communities, who will be provided information needed to improve their lives.

The new technology will make possible, instant, interactive feedback from the listeners on what they think of the suggestions and how these can be improved.

According to Sonam Yangchen Rana, chief of the UNDP’s South and South West Asia project for HIV and Development, the venture became possible because of two high-technology satellite channels that have been provided free by the U.S.-based NGO Equal Access.

Also involved is World Space, a commercial broadcaster which broadcasts to 135 countries.

“Both organisations are committed to providing information that is relevant to local communities that can be acted upon by individuals, families and communities for poverty reduction,” says Rana.

However, Ratnabali Mitra, programme executive with the government’s AIR network, says that World Space is interested in entering developing nations only because the broadcaster is facing stiff competition from business rivals in Europe and North America.

According to Mitra, AIR still has tremendous potential for community broadcasts. “The local (AIR) stations already enjoy a great deal of autonomy and this can be expected to improve in the future,” she says.