Shillong: “The objective of the Community Radio is to create a space for the masses whose issues have been erased out from prime time by big media establishments. It is of the people, by the people and for the people,” said Shahid Rasool, the director of CEMCA during a three-day Community Radio Awareness Workshop organised at the English and Foreign Languages (EFL) University, Shillong Campus on Tuesday. The programme was organised by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in collaboration with Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), New Delhi in partnership with the department of journalism and mass communication of the university. “The government of India has an ambitious plan to start over 4000 community radio centres where the local community will make, develop and broadcast their programmes ranging from folk songs to new farming techniques to means of sustainable livelihood,” Shahid added. He also informed that so far 253 community radio licenses have been given out by the government of India across the country.
R Sreedher, often called as the ‘Father of Community Radio in India’, said radio is also a ‘juggad’. He lamented radio, as a word, has been forgotten because it is widely available and integrated into even the smallest of earphones. He also said radio has been reduced to only audio devices and advised that community radio should not be used for activism or for commercial activities.
The awareness workshop was organised to sensitise the region on the value of community radio, which is managed and run including programming by the community.
The government has given seven community radio licenses to organisations from the North East, of which, three stations are in Assam, two in Manipur and one each in Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh.
