The Community Radio experience is anchored in  Palamau and Garhwa regions of Jharkhand state in India. The state of Jharkhand created out of Bihar State in 2000 and is one of the most mineral rich states in India. The natural resources like mica, coal, bauxite, copper manganese , uranium, etc are found in abundance.

However, due to a lack of good governance people are suffering from starvation and hunger ,inadequate health services , a gloomy social sector with poor literacy, anemic infrastructural facilities and fragile livelihoods. Further to this, there are many dreadful social practices such as child and early marriage, dowry and superstitions deeply entrenched in communities. Within this larger picture of Jharkhand State ,the region of Palamau is in a worse condition and is popularly known as Somalia of India ,reflecting similarities of extreme poverty with extremism of different kinds.

 Issues in the Region

• Palamau is categorized as a poor area with recurring drought, famine, increased pace of land degradation and deforestation. Resources and community assets in the area are fast depleting creating human miseries, starvation, hunger and death .

• Palamau is a region of contrasts; small number of landlords hold a large quantity of land at one extreme leaving a large landless poor on the other.

• The poor in the region are living in “pincers jaws” with exploitative feudalism combined with a lack of governance .

• The region is a breeding ground for many social ills, such as bonded labour, child labour, child marriage, large family members ,migration and debt bondage.

• The triggering factor for all these social ills are the strong influence and presence of the feudal system and its land lords. The corollary to feudalism is the rise of extremism in the region.

• Further to these miseries, there is a defunct government administrative system. Government development programs fail to reach the needy due to leakages and corruption in the system.

• The strong nexus between the Zamindars (landowners), politicians and bureaucrats is very strong and powerful. As a result the poor are unable to access government programs.The poor are thus trapped in a vicious cycle.