‘Mann ki baat’ spurs govt’s community radio plan

New Delhi: Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio broadcasts, making a connect with the common man through his monthly Mann Ki Baat programme, an effort is now being made by the Union information and broadcasting ministry to expand its Community Radio Station scheme to universities across the country.

To make universities realise the potential of the CRS initiative, the ministry has sought their active participation in the establishment of such stations. In  a letter to vice chancellors of all universities in the country, the ministry has emphasised that CRS can play an important role as a medium of communication in education sector of India. The step to promote CRS comes after after Union I&B minister M. Venkaiah Naidu called on the ministry to utilise its full potential.

“It has proved to be an effective tool not only for communicating with the students, faculty and staff members and their families residing on the campus but also the community surrounding the campus. Community Radio has proved to be immensely helpful to educational institutions in their academic curriculum as well as towards helping them discharge social responsibilities towards the surrounding community,” the  ministry letter said.

“CRS have immense potential to bring about a very significant positive social change at the community level. They cater to the information needs of the people in local languages and in community decided formats,” the letter added.

“Spectrum is a scarce resource and only three bands are allotted for Community Radio in a certain area for setting up a station. Thus if an educational institiution misses out on spectrum allocation it would not be available for the next 10-15 years,” it added.