Sangham
FM is making waves in Andhra Pradesh by catering to the needs of people
in their local dialect.
The two anchors of Sangham FM,
‘General’ Narsamma (left) and Algole Narsamma, at work. The former in
the recording room and the latter converting capsules from cassettes to
a digital library. The Community Media Trust has collected enough
material to see Sangham FM through 600 hours of broadcast.
Medak district, in the backward Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh,
will soon have its own FM radio station that will be managed by Dalits,
mostly women. The Community Media Trust of Pastapur will run the
station from The Green School, or Pachasaale, of the Deccan Development
Society (DDS), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of which the trust
is a part.
The DDS established the community radio station in 1998 but did not get
the nod from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to go on air.
It crossed the hurdle recently with the Ministry issuing the letter of
intent for the station. The delay was mainly on account of the lack of
a policy on the issue of licences for running FM stations. The
Government of India initially approved the grant of licences to
educational institutions and subsequently extended the policy to NGOs.
Until the approval came, Sangham Radio, the name of the Medak station,
played recorded news capsules on a tape-recorder in the nearby villages
on specific days. This “narrowcasting” had its effect on the local
people, who soon became eager consumers of information on issues such
as biodiversity and seed sovereignty.
The station is managed by Algole Narsamma and ‘General’ Narsamma, Dalit
women who are alumni of The Green School.
With the training they received as student reporters, they record
programmes on topics relating to women’s empowerment, local problems
relating to health and indigenous knowledge and traditions. Each
programme is produced in a one-and-a-half-hour magazine format by
mixing interviews and discussions with folk songs and drama. They
ensure that each capsule has a fair dose of storytelling to keep the
listener interested until the end of the programme.
Down the years, the team has gathered enough material that could see it
through 600 hours of broadcasting. The narrowcast was limited to one
and a half hours. The terms of the licence also allow them to broadcast
for the same length of time.
‘General’ Narsamma, who is excited about the possibility of a
broadcast, said the local people initially called the radio “Bichapolla
Radio” (Radio of Beggars). She added that the region was sparsely
covered by All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan.
P.V. Sateesh, Director, DDS, said the idea of a community radio struck
him in 1995 when he was working on a project, Learning Without
Frontiers (LWF), with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation. UNESCO’s concept of LWF was that people who had
not “learnt” in their early years should not see it as a barrier to
learning. They could start at any point of time and become literate.
Taking a slightly different point of view, the DDS, a two-decade-old
organisation that has been working with women’s sanghams (voluntary
village-level associations), concluded that non-literates had much to
offer to the outside world and that it was time to recognise them as
teachers and not as learners.
“It is in pursuit of this concept that we decided along with the
community of sanghams that we should explore the possibility of
equipping the non-literate women with the skills of video and radio,”
Sateesh said.
In 2001, the DDS set up the Community Media Trust, and soon illiterate
women started handling cameras and microphones and collecting
information just as any radio or video journalist would. Now, the
station is abuzz with a flurry of activity as Sangham FM plans to start
broadcasting its programmes within a few months. Algole Narsamma and
‘General’ Narsamma are working on digitising the programmes that they
have already produced. “Akka Chellelara Koodi Podame, Mana Sangham lo
Matalada” (Sisters let us come together and talk at our Sangham) will
be the signature song of the station, Algole Narsamma said.
The DDS has 5,000 women members, mostly Dalits, who represent the
poorest of the poor in their village communities. The anchors have
selected 10 girls from The Green School to gather information from
member-villages in neighbouring mandals such as Zaheerabad,
Jherasangham, Kohir, Nyalkal, Munipalli and Raikode. Sangham FM’s 100
watt Effective Radiated Power (ERP) transmitter can cover a radius of
around 10 kilometres. The government can permit the use of even 250
watt ERP transmitters in special cases.
In the event of the Sangham FM getting the more powerful transmitter,
the region’s flat terrain will allow many more villages to receive its
broadcast.
Social concerns
During the formulation of the policy guidelines, fear was expressed
about the possibility of community radios falling into the hands of
extremist elements, particularly the Maoists, in regions such as
Telangana. Vinod Pavarala, Professor and Dean, Sarojini Naidu School of
Communication, University of Hyderabad, said sufficient checks and
balances had been built into the policy guidelines to avoid such
problems. Community radios have to retain recordings of their
programmes for a period of six months in order to enable the
authorities to verify violations, if there are any.
The content regulation and monitoring section of the guidelines
cautions the permission holder not to offend other communities, castes
or religions. The permission holder is told not to criticise friendly
countries and not to broadcast news. Pavarala hopes that the condition
that the licence should be renewed every five years would act as a
deterrent to such activity if any.
Experts point out that the available spectrum can accommodate 100 to
200 community FM stations in the next five to six years.
Community radios are eligible to seek funding from multilateral aid
agencies, but applicants seeking foreign funds will have to obtain
clearance under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976.
In the air
Sangham FM is not the only community radio in the country that has been
striving to cater to the needs of the unreached millions in their local
dialect. Ujjas Radio, established by the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanghatan
(KMVS), has been active in the Kutch region of Gujarat since 1989. The
KMVS has 10,000 active members.
The need for a community radio was felt as the AIR station at Bhuj
transmits programmes only in Gujarati and not in the local Kutchi
dialect. The KMVS has been broadcasting programmes since December 1999
by purchasing commercial slots on Radio Bhuj. The “Chala Ho Gaon Mein”
(Come, let’s go to the village) community radio of rural Palamau in
Jharkhand is also broadcasting through the AIR-FM station at
Daltangunj. The programme was initiated by Alternative for India
Development (AID), an NGO, which provides it financial and technical
support.
A recording session on at the
community radio station. The station is managed by women who handle
cameras and microphones and collect information on topics related to
women’s empowerment, and so on.
The 30-minute capsule of Chala Ho Gaon Mein is the only radio programme
linked with gender equality and justice available in the local dialect.
Today, it broadcasts twice a week, on Sundays and Wednesdays, from 7.15
p.m. to 7.45 p.m.
Voices, a Bangalore-based media NGO, and the Mysore Resettlement and
Development agency (MYRADA) launched “Namma Dhwani”, a community radio,
in 2001 at Budhikote village in the Kolar region of Karnataka. Namma
Dhwani produces programmes in a dialect that is a mix of Telugu and
Kannada. The NGO has been cablecasting programmes on television since
2003.
