*COMMUNITY RADIO FORUM-INDIA * *invites all community radio broadcasters and enthusiasts to its 3RD ANNUAL MEETING on 14, FEB, 2009. 10 AM TO 6 PM at Radio Bundelkhand Community Radio Station TARAgram, Orchha, Madhya Pradesh *
* More than two years after we managed to create space for people's organizations to apply for radio licenses, we only have two operational CR Stations in the this country. *According to the 30 Nov 2008 figures, the ministry of Information & broadcasting has received 297 CR license applications, including 141 from NGOs and CBOs, 105 from educational institutions and 51 from agricultural universities and Krishi Vigyan Kendras. 107 Letters of Intent have been issued, and 13 Grant of Permission Agreements (GOPA) have been signed. There are currently 38 operational radio stations in the country under the CR Policy of which two are CRs and the rest are Campus Radios. This is not the situation we had all envisaged while fighting to democratize our airwaves. There are many reasons for this dismal numbers. We intend to discuss some of these key reasons so that we could foster a true CR movement in this country. *Agenda*: Visit to Radio Bundelkhand; CRS experiences of Sangham Radio and Radio Bundelkhand; Programming for CRS; Copyrights and royalties; Ads, revenues and funding of CRS; Application procedures – screening committees, survey forms, expensive follow ups; CR in urban India – potential and disappointments; Nurturing and protecting true CR in India; *Venue*: TARAgram, Orchha Tigela, Orchha, Dist. Timkamgarh 472246, Madhya Pradesh. Tel: 07680-252866 *Confirmation*: Please send in your confirmations to Priya Panicker at * priya.panicke...@gmail.com*. Kindly let her know how many people from your organization would be attending and your travel schedules. *Contribution*: All participants are requested to contribute Rs.200 (per participant) at the venue. This is to cover the cost of lunch and teas during the meet. Development Alternatives, our host, has kindly agreed to take care of the cost of venue and will also host the dinner on 14th. *Travel*: Participants will need to take care of their own travel cost and arrangements. Orchha is a 20-minutes drive from Jhansi railway station. Please book in advance to get reservations. *Stay*:* *At TARAgram, Orchha DA has a dormitory with 28 beds. Please contact Wg. Cdr. Pramod Sahney of Development Alternatives at 09415031058. You can also stay in hotels in the city of Jhansi. DA recommends Sita (0510 2444690) and Srinath (0510 2445555) CRF sincerely appreciates all at Radio Bundelkhand and Development Alternative for hosting us. We hope that you would all take this opportunity to stay on for a day or two to learn more about Radio Bundelkhand (Please see note below). Looking forward to meeting you all. Stalin K. Convener, CRF-India *CRF-India is a registered society committed to fostering true community radio in India through trainings, advocacy, research and lobbying. CRF India represents the civil society organizations and individuals committed to the ethos of a community owned and managed media. * ------ *Radio Bundelkhand at TARAgram, Orchha * Radio Bundelkhand 90.4 is an initiative of Development Alternatives in partnership with the communities of Bundelkhand, to give voices to the deprived and marginalised communities of Bundelkhand region of Central India. The project was initiated by DA in early 2007 with a mission of disseminating relevant information to the rural audience. It covers a radius of 600 acres. 90.4 FM seeks to promote development interactive communication. It aims at broadcasting * *The target community of the project are women, youth and men from marginalised caste and class of Bundelkhand, the central Indian Belt of Bundelkhandi (local dialect) speaking communities. * The goal *is to bring a progressive social change in the area of Bundelkhand. *The objective* is to provide a platform to the people of the region to gain wider access to information, understand their own needs, express their concerns, be heard and exchange ideas amongst themselves - all in their own language. * The activities* involve in the project are community mobilization, training of community reporters, construction of the station and installation of the equipments, formation of governing and management bodies, managing the operations of the station and making it sustainable. The major output of these activities is establishment of Radio Bundelkhand as ICT tool of villagers for voicing their own stories and concerns. The idea is to make it "for the people, of the people and by the people" of Bundelkhand. *How does the Radio Bundelkhand station work? *The purpose of this radio is to work along with our communities in the radius of the proposed radio station the communities and use this communication medium - to create awareness, give information, participate in local self governance and provide entertainment - all based on requests and feedback from the community. It was agreed upon that they would like information related to employment and livelihood opportunities, development of women, women education, legal rights, farmers' issues, training, their culture and history, how to ensure the availability of basic infrastructure such as water, energy and roads, development issues, and any other information sought by the communities. The programs of the station are based on the issues and content identified by the communities and broadcasting in the formats which they prefer that includes the use of traditional Bundelkhandi songs, folk music and nataks, discussions, reports, commodity prices, phone ins, experts speak, coverage of events in villages, jokes and satire, listeners' letters and feedback. A participatory activity is contacted time to time in villages to find out the need of the listeners/villagers, their likings, etc. The communities with DA representatives decided what they would like to listen through Radio Bundelkhand. Radio Bundelkhand has a core team includes the station manager, producer of the programs and most importantly 5 community reporters. These reporters are members of the communities, living the villages where the radio has its reach. These 5 reporters collect information from ground, get feedback from the villages and make programes that the community wants to listen. * Management of the Radio Bundelkhand Station *The management of the station is handled by the management committee members including village representatives (Sarpanch, representatives from women SHG group), representative of Development Alternatives, Radio Bundelkhand All India Radio; Medical Officer Public Health Center and school teacher. The daily operation is managed by the Radio Bundelkhand team. In addition, a *Public Advisory Council (PAC*) which comprises member representatives from the villages covered and local policy makers from the region functions in an advisory capacity to ensure buy-in from district authorities in an advisory capacity to ensure buy-in from district authorities
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