Pune: In order to create awareness about Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in the remote parts of the country, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that the ministry is planning to expand the community radio (CR) network through a special outreach initiative beginning Saturday.

The minister stated that with CR stations spread across the country, it will play a pro-active role in creating awareness about the pandemic. 

Javadekar termed the CRs as ‘agents of change’ while addressing 300 community radio stations and stated that the central government will soon come out with a plan to increase the number of CR stations in the country.

He also stated that the government is likely to raise air time for advertisements on community radios to make their operations self-sustaining. 

“CR stations are allowed air time of seven minutes per hour for advertisements while the same is 12 minutes for TV channels. We are eager to give equal time to all radio stations so that there would be no need for them to seek funds,” said the minister.

Javadekar added, “75 percent of the expenditure during setting-up of CR stations is borne by the ministry, which constitutes the majority of the fixed expenditure. The revision of advertising time is expected to help community radio stations meet their operational expenditure to a large extent.” 

The ministry has also implemented an on-going scheme ‘Supporting Community Radio Movement in India’ and has allocated Rs 25 crores.

Addressing the key demand to permit CRs to broadcast news, Javadekar assured that he will consider allowing news broadcast on CR like it is broadcasted on FM channels.

He also mentioned that stations should play a key role in combating fake news menace by verifying it through local sources, adding that, the ministry has created a Fact Check Cell under PIB and the Community Radios can play a complementary role. 

Community Radio Stations in India
There are 290 CR stations operational in India-- including 130 CR run by educational institutions, 143 by civil society organisations and 17 are operated by Krishi Vigyan Kendras. These low power FM radio stations with broadcast reach of 10-15 kms radius, often play a significant role in grass root level communication.