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Subject:
Fwd: [Asiapacific-general] India: Activists hail Decision by Group of Ministers/Cabinet Urged to Oka
From:
Ellie Rennie <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Ellie Rennie <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 20 Oct 2006 09:41:47 +1000
Content-Type:
text/plain
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text/plain (118 lines) 
This is big news. Congratulations to everyone in India who helped get this policy across the line.
Let's hope the Hong Kong and Thai governments read this and come to their senses.
Ellie.

>>> "Suman Basnet" <[log in to unmask]> 19/10/2006 9:23 pm >>>
Media Release

Activists hail Decision by Group of Ministers
Cabinet Urged to Okay
Community Radio Policy

New Delhi, October 13, 2006

The Community Radio Forum of India has hailed the Group of Ministers’
recommendation to clear the Community Radio Policy, drawn up by the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The new policy will now allow
civil society organizations, NGOs and other non-profits to apply for
Community Radio licenses making ‘citizens radio’ a reality. The Forum
urged the Union Cabinet to accord the highest priority to approve and
notify this policy and brings about democratization of India’s airwaves.

Under the present community radio guidelines, only ‘well-established
educational institutions’ are permitted to set up campus-based radio
stations. Following the landmark Supreme Court judgment of 1995 * which
declared that the ‘airwaves are public property, to be used for public
good’ - members of the Community Radio Forum, international advocacy
groups such as World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
(AMARC), other civil society organizations across the country and
international development organizations including UNESCO and UNDP have,
over the past six years,  held several consultative meetings with the
ministry  to expand the eligibility criteria to include community based
organizations.

In May 2004, the I & B Ministry, in consultation with civil society
representatives including the Forum, drew up a set of policy
recommendations to allow communities to own and manage their own FM
community radio stations. In August 2005 the Forum petitioned the Prime
Minister (http://www.petitiononline.com/comradio/) to put an end to this
discriminatory broadcast policy where corporate houses could buy FM
frequencies but communities could not own and operate their own stations
and were left with no other choice but to buy air-time from existing All
India Radio stations. Members of the Forum have since then collected
over 50,000 signatures on this petition.

News programmes and advertisements are currently banned on campus radio.
The new policy will not only open up community radio to NGOs, self-help
groups and other community-based organizations, but will also allow them
to become self-supporting through limited ad-revenue.

On notification of this policy India will become the first country in
South Asia to have a separate policy for community radio.

The Community Radio Forum, which is an association of community radio
broadcasters, activists and academics looks forward to a genuine
democratization of the country’s airwaves when this policy comes into
force.


Stalin K.
For, Community Radio Forum, India
Contact: [log in to unmask]


The Community Radio Forum, India
1. Stalin K., DRISHTI - Media, Arts & Human Rights, Ahmedabad
2. Preeti Soni, Radio Ujjas, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan, Bhuj
3. Ashish Sen, VOICES, Bangalore
4. Dr. Vinod Pavarala, Dean, School of Communication, Central
University, Hyderabad
5. Nandita Roy, National Foundation of India, New Delhi
6. Shankar Ghose, Charkha, New Delhi
7. Frederick Noronha, Panaji, Goa
8. P V Sateesh, Deccan Development Society, Hyderabad
9. Dr. B P Sanjay, School of Communication, Central University,
Hyderabad
10. Nitya Jacob, WriteShop, New Delhi
11. Basheerhamad Shadrach, New Delhi
12. Vickram Crishna, Radiophony, Mumbai
13. Nimmi Chauhan, DRISHTI - Media, Arts & Human Rights, Ahmedabad
14. Geeta Malhotra, OneWorld South Asia, New Delhi
15. Osama Manzar, Digital Empowerment Foundation, New Delhi
16. Venu Arora, Equal Access, New Delhi
17. L Ajith, Radio Alakal, Trivandrum
18. Ram Bhatt, VOICES, Bangalore
19. Gabar Singh, Umang Group
20. Nalini Abraham, Plan International
21. Anshu Sharma, SEEDS, New Delhi
22. Tom Thomas, Praxis India, New Delhi


____________________
Suman Basnet
Regional Coordinator
AMARC Asia Pacific
Kathmandu, Nepal

http://asiapacific.amarc.org

Phone: +977 1 5554811
Fax: +977 1 5521714



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