The Indian government also announced a special Community Radio cell for grievance redressal.
New Delhi: Amit Khare, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, said that the Department of Telecommunications has agreed to dedicate two additional frequencies including 89.6 MHz and 90.0 MHz for running community radio stations.
He was speaking at the seventh National Community Radio Sammelan in New Delhi.
Khare said that Community Radio should get more support from the Central and State governments. He announced that on the lines of recent hike in advertisement rates for the print and electronic media, the advertisement rates for Community Radio will be revised by the Bureau of Outreach and Communication in a period of two months.
Khare also announced that a Community Radio Cell will be set up in the Ministry for grievance redressal. The cell will also collate actionable suggestions received from stakeholders.
Khare said that the media and communication plan of all Ministries of the government must include Community Radio for a deeper penetration into far flung areas.
He further said that the community radio sammelan should be held annually along with those at the regional levels. Khare also suggested to explore other venues for the National Sammelan other than New Delhi. “Community radio should be treated as a movement rather than a government scheme,” he said.
Source: OneWorld South Asia