Community Radio Station to Start at Shivpuri,Madhya Pradesh

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India has signed a Grant of Permission Agreement for establishing, maintaining and operating a Community Radio Station at Sambhav Social Service Organization, Shivpuri, M.P. Letter of Intent had been issued to the Institute after recommendations of Inter Ministerial Committee for seeking requisite clearances from various Ministries. The Community Radio Station is expected to be operational within three months as per the agreement. With this, the number of CRS will increase to 61in the country.

The aim of the organization is to empower community members to create and access information relevant to their local development needs. Literacy and overall educational attainment are far lower among women than men in this area. The focus community is the Sahariya tribe which is traditionally a hunting and gathering society. As a result of political, economic and social marginalization, Sahariya community face enormous challenges to development.
The Sahariya tribe has been an important constituent in Sambhav's development initiatives since its founding in 1988. The CRS programs will be based on developmental, agricultural, health, educational, environmental, social welfare, community development and other cultural programmes.

The Ministry encourages setting up the Community Radio Stations as it promises to provide an opportunity to the local communities to express themselves, share their views and particularly empower the women, youth and the marginalized groups to take part in local self governance and overall socio, economic and cultural development in the area.

(Press Information Bureau, Govt of India)