Survey on policy & regulation of Community Radio in India
Community Radio, often cited as the third tier in radio broadcasting has been seen as a socially relevant, user-friendly, and low cost method to promote community development, social justice, cultural diversity, freedom of expression, conflict management and resolution, disaster mitigation and management etc. Around the world, community radio is surprisingly diverse in the ways they function and the purpose they serve to their communities. It is of little doubt that increasing access to community radio goes a long way inĀ advancing delivery of various other fundamental human rights.
However, increasing access to community radio is a complex task which involves a wide range of factors – regulatory environment, cost of equipment, awareness in potential users, availability of funds etc.
As a beginning, Maraa, a media and arts collective, with generous support from Ford Foundation, is seeking to study how the regulatory environment has an impact on access to community radio. As India completes 10 years of community radio, we hope that this study will provide evidence-based inputs towards policy review for the government. At the same time, we also hope that this study will be used by civil society groups, representative associations and other community groups to argue for a policy, which is conducive to equitable access to community radio in India.
It is in this context that Maraa has designed this survey to understand what the CR practitioners, advocates, academia and enthusiasts identify as the key policy hurdles that influence access. Please send in your responses by 18th February, 2014.