Radio Brahmaputra set to serve India’s north-east
Radio Brahmaputra is the first civil society run Community Radio for serving the local communities in the north eastern part of India.
Dibrugarh: Bringing a new opportunity for raising their voice regarding local issues, a new community radio floated by a civil society organization in the Dirbrugarh district of Assam has heralded a new era in this part of the North East.
The Centre for North-East Studies & Policy Research (C-NES) and the team of Brahmaputra Community Radio Station (BCRS) have together started the Brahmaputra Community Radio station.
Supported by UNICEF, Radio Brahmaputra, 90.4 FM, is the first grassroots and civil society led Community Radio Station in the North-Eastern region of India.
The Radio Brahmaputra got the WOL (Wireless Operating License) from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) on July, 10, 2015.
Talking about Radio Brahmaputra, Bhaskar Jyoti Bhuyan, said that Community Radio is an extraordinary and an invisible medium to give voice to the voiceless. “The station would provide an opportunity to the people of North East to speak about issues concerning their lives,” he said.
Bhuyan said that Community Radio could be an effective tool in bringing awareness to the door-steps of people about various flagship programmes of the government. “There is a need to provide a greater push to the CRS movement in the country ensuring its reach in every nook and corner. CRS has also helped communities during calamities and natural disasters like floods and earthquakes,” he said.
The Community Radio is an important tool of communication in a diverse country like India.
Brahmaputra Radio will endeavour to make programmes for different age groups. Some of the signature programmes include Chahtri Yuva Snehi for youth, Kon Mainar Mela for children and Chai Gasar Maja-Maja for women.
Radio Brahmaputra is covering nearly 180 mainland villages, 12 island villages and 31 tea garden and sub divisions including Dibrugarh municipality area.
Radio Brahmaputra is currently broadcasting 10 hours daily programme in many languages and dialects (Assamese, Chadri (tea garden community dialect), Bhojpuri, Mishing and Bodo) covering the most marginalized communities of the districts of Dibrugarh, Dhemaji and partly Lakhimpur.
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