Non-politcal news, local ads to boost community radio

According to I&B Secretary S K Arora ‘‘it’s important to have a policy that will not only promote setting up of community radio but also ensure they are contentwise and financially viable’’.

Although the government had allowed setting up of community radios following a policy announced in December 2002, stringent norms and guidelines dampened enthusiasm. Only recognised educational institutions were allowed due to which till date, the country has just about a dozen such radio stations operating.

The idea, an I&B official said, will be ‘‘to allow a facility that will aim at contributing to the lives of the local community by creation of content by the people and for the people of that community’’.

The existing policy allows setting up of a 50 watt radio transmitter at a licence fee of Rs 50,000 and a capital investment between Rs 8-10 lakh. The transmitter being of low power, the coverage was restricted to 5 km. The policy disallowed advertisements or news. Only educational institutes were allowed to set up the system as the defence and the home departments had feared that it could be misused for broadcasting news which may not be in the public interest.