Community Radio: Inclusive but underutilised in Northeast

 The utility of a community radio station (CRS) in an era of augmented reality, virtual reality, and digital mass media is often overshadowed by cynicism rooted in a lack of awareness of its potential. For a region like the Northeast with over 400 languages and dialects, CRS can provide the space for each community in the region to create a repository of rich audio content about their cultural practices, heritage, folk music, and folklore for future generations. Community radio does not compete with public service broadcasting or commercial radio services but helps create an inclusive space for communities excluded from the other two radio spaces. Digital technology is only an enabler, as content created by a CRS can be disseminated to a wider audience through digital communication channels. In India, public service broadcaster All India Radio has a wide reach, covering nearly 92% of the country’s area and 99% of its population. Although AIR airs programmes in 23 languages and 179 dialects, when it comes to the northeastern region with vast linguistic diversity, CRS can fill in the gap by airing programmes in languages and dialects not covered by the public broadcaster. Besides, despite the advancement of the application of digital technology in translation from one language to another, the majority of languages and dialects spoken in the northeast region have no written script, due to which radio can play a significant role in spreading education, knowledge, awareness on health issues, discussing traditional agricultural practises, climate issues, etc. Unlike the public service and commercial radio services, the target audience of CRS is limited to a particular community that may belong to one language speaker group or several language speaker groups residing within a radius of 10 km. The community radio movement grew gradually in India after the policy for granting permission for setting up CRS in well-established educational institutions was approved in 2002. Amendments to the policy guidelines in 2006, 2017, and 2018 facilitated the spread of the movement, and currently the country has 412 CRS. The fact that, of the 85 applications received by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting till December 2022, applications from 18 organisations have been approved for grant of permission for the setting up of a community radio station; 62 applications are in various stages of processing; and five applications have been rejected due to the non-availability of radio frequency. This indicates that the pace of the community radio movement is not gaining the desired momentum. After obtaining the Letter of Intent issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the applicants are required to apply to the Ministry of Communication for Wireless wireless operating licence before commissioning the CRS. This call for review of the implementation of the central sector scheme “Supporting Community Radio Movement in India”, for which the central government earmarked a total outlay of Rs 50 crore for the period from 2021–22 to 2025–26, is to identify gaps and take necessary steps to expedite it. The objectives of the scheme outlined in the policy guidelines include strengthening new and existing CRS with resources, capacity, and technology so that they could provide access and voice to marginalised communities; promoting the growth of CRS, especially in remote and rural areas, so that people living in these areas could have access to a meaningful medium of broadcast; promoting the socio-economic and cultural development of communities as CRS is a powerful tool; and promoting the growth of CRS in coastal, disaster prone, North-Eastern Region, and aspirational districts. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology points out in its report that Meghalaya and Mizoram are among the states that have yet to have a single CRS. Single-window clearance for all necessary permissions, including the licence for CRS, can be explored to fast-track the application process. Building a revenue model for CRS is important for sustainability. In respect of CRSs located in the northeast region, one-time financial assistance of Rs. 12 lakh is given to the licence holder after operationalizing the CRS for three months. The operational CRS can apply for grants for renewal or replacement of CRS equipment only after five years to purchase the listed equipment. The ceiling of grants is 75% of the purchase cost of equipment up-to Rs. 7.50 lakh, and for the North-East region, the grant is 90% of the purchase cost of equipment up to Rs. 7.50 lakh. Support for content creation in the form of grants by various ministries is linked to theme programmes, but the number of such grants is limited to 100 per year. Encouraging local self-government bodies like panchyats and local not-for-profit organisations engaged in development activities, cultural promotion, heritage conservation, etc., to support the content creation of the CRS can also increase revenue generation and sustainability. Innovative content creation with minimum cost also increases sustainability, besides making the content useful for the target audience. The spread of community radio is crucial in the northeast for empowering smaller and marginalised communities through inclusion in the media space.