Introduction
Background
AID Intervention
Impact
Some Facts
Links
From Editor's Desk
Online Episodes
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Introduction

Poor and vulnerable groups often lack information that is vital for their lives - information on basic rights, public services, health, education, work opportunities etc. Of all the means of mass communication, community radio is perhaps the most effective one. It is a powerful means for empowerment and social change. With 110 million illiterates in the country, reaching the unreached is a major challenge. Community radio is an attempt to overcome this literacy barrier.
It is an affordable means of communication, where the people themselves raise issues and identify their own priorities. It is a new source of strength for poor people.
 It was the utter poverty and starvation with large scale distress migration and totally ignored region, administratively, that helped the community radio programme a major accepted tool to give voice to the voiceless in the districts of Garhwa and Palamau in the state of Jharkhand in India.
With overwhelming success and change that the programme brought in Palamau division, the community radio programme by Alternative for India Development (AID) expanded to other regions of the state where people’s concern, though different from the former region, faced the same apathy from the custodian of the deprived. This led to the expansion of the radio programme to the regions of Khuntkatti in Ranchi, East Singbhum and the Kolhan region of the state, where the self governance of the tribals, in majority, are at stake.
The expansion of community radio was made on the basis of the high potentials identified in Jharkhand state to use the power of community radio for seeking right to information, raising awareness and mobilizing the people for demanding people’s rights and needs and for improving the governance system. The project was built from five years of experience in community radio in Palamau District. This resulted in scaling up the similar projects to wider areas in Jharkhand.

Background

A majority of the population in the districts of Palamau region comprising Latehar and Garhwa districts lives on the edge of poverty. Similar condition exists in the tribal habited pocket of Khunti subdivision of Ranchi district and in Kolhan and East Singhbhum region of Jharkhand state in India.
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AID Intervention

A half an hour program ‘Chala Ho Gaon Mein‘ aired on All India Radio broadcast from Daltonganj studio is an attempt by AID to address the most basic development needs of the people of the region.
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Impacts of Community Radio: Case Studies

 The power of community radio lies in its participatory nature, as both its content and technology are people-oriented. Some of the live case studies, mentioned below, from the field bring about the impact of the community radio in the region.
The following examples show how the programme being aired through the community radio has affected the people and brought about the behavioral changes among them.
 

From Editor's Desk
The community radio programs represent the voices and real concerns of the poor communities. It fulfils their information and entertainment needs.
Our experience from the field shows the community radio as the most effective tool in bringing about behavioural change among the people at the social level and also lowering down the corruption level up to certain extent. It has helped in building up awareness among people to demand for their rights and entitlements.
But when we talk at wider aspect, going beyond our project region, we find that size, diversity and complex socio-cultural structure of our country requires constant involvement and participation of people in conceptualizing and implementing strategies for their empowerment.
Often information is disseminated without understanding the needs of the users. Most information systems provide information to the poor that is not demand-driven. They overlook local knowledge. For information to empower people, it must bring into focus the need to improve poor people's capacities to analyse and understand information and act on it by communicating their views.
Communication implies action and interaction. To communicate is to express one's opinions and preferences. It also means sharing and exchanging views and ideas – that is a powerful means for social change.
In order to make genuine community radio a reality in India, there is an urgent need to develop a framework within which community radio stations can function. The framework includes developing a National Policy Framework that will enable communities to own and operate radio stations in India, as is the practice in other parts of the world. At the same time, there is need to learn from experiences from across the world, and develop a National management framework that will address concerns of the people at the grassroots level.

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