Soon, these visually challenged can tune in to their own radio station Ahmedabad, December 21: SOME good news for the visually challenged in the State: a radio station exclusively for them is on the cards and may be up and running in six months. The idea is to help more number of visually impaired people derive the benefits of community radio and for this, the Blind Peoples Association in Ahmedabad plans to build a radio station within its premises. While the BPA now broadcasts data using EDUSAT, an interactive satellite based distance education system of the government, an exclusive radio station will help broadcast programmes that will directly reach the listener.
Education Director at the BPA, JB Kavi says that the new radio station will help the visually impaired in a variety of ways. Right now, they have to go the receiving station to get data about educational programmes as a part of the EDUSAT programme but once the radio station is set up, they can sit in their homes and listen to the radio, knowing more about different topics, says Kavi. The BPA has set up a special network as part of the EDUSAT programme which sends relevant information through data broadcast and audio broadcast. The information is sent to classrooms spread across the state. The classrooms print out the information in Braille format and give the same to visually impaired students to help them with their education. The BPA is now also planning to expand facilities for EDUSAT by opening up 15 receiving centres for the programme in different institutions working for the welfare of the physically challenged in various districts of Gujarat. Kavi adds that the radio station will have all the needed facilities to broadcast programmes. He says, We will be concentrating on educational programmes once the radio station is built. Our idea is to cover anything and everything under the sun. However, the topics can be decided according to the requirements of the people who will be listening to the radio programmes. Kavi says, We will also be inviting a panel of experts to talk about different issues on the radio. A phone-in facility will also be provided through which the visually impaired will be able to talk to these experts. The facility will be toll-free proving extremely useful to the visually impaired. Talking about the costs involved in setting it up, Executive Director of the Association, Bhushan Punani says, We have been working on this project for the past one year. However, the work on the radio station will be completed within six months and will cost us a minimum of Rs 5 lakh. We will be raising the amount through various sources for the benefit of the visually impaired. Send free SMS to your Friends on Mobile from your Yahoo! Messenger. Download Now! http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
