The Inter-Ministerial Committee for Community Radio licenses has been striving to streamline the process of licensing for the new radio stations. Over the last eight years wince it has been functional the committee has tried to reduce the delays with respect to the other Ministries.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee for Community Radio licenses was set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B), Government of India, to stream line the licensing process so it could gain momentum. The committee, chaired by the secretary of the I&B Ministry allows a single window clearance for Universities, Deemed Universities and Government run educational institutions. No separate clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Human Resource Development shall be necessary.

Mr.K.S.Rejimon, Director (DAS), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is heartened by the progress the committee has made considering that in 2006 there were 60 community radio stations and for the last few years, there had been a steady increase in the number of permissions.

“Earlier, CR stations used to get clearances very late because we had to seek clearances from various ministries like the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC), the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Ministry of Agriculture,” said Rejimon, “There used to be a lot of delay in earlier cases, now we have initiated this Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee, with the objective to speed up the clearing process” he added.

The representatives from the various ministries converge at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, with the various pending applications of the respective departments, this process has greatly helped in clearing the backlog. The number of pending cases with the WPC, has also drastically reduced due to the efforts of the ministry.

Rejimon is encouraged by the change in the attitude of the ministries, earlier their knowledge about the community radio sector was very limited and quite sketchy he says, “Now they are very excited to see the sector grow. They express a lot of interest in taking the CR sector forward. We have seen remarkable changes in the attitude of the ministries in streamlining the processes. In the days to come the number of pending cases will come down owing to the committee meetings happening every month.”

Author : CRFC