Ministry of Information and Broadcasting holds its third meeting for screening applications from NGOs for setting up of Community Radio Stations

Ms. Jayalakshmi Chittoor, Programme Coordinator of CSDMS, has joined as an invited Member of the seven members Screening Committee for consideration of applications from NGOs/ CSOs and private educational institutions, etc. for the grant of permission for establishment of community radio stations by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. The Committee was constituted by a Ministry’s Order dated 22 August 2007.

The Joint Secretary (Broadcasting) of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, chairs the Screening Committee. Other members of the Committee include Dr. Lalit Kumar, Deputy Advisor, Planning Commission, New Delhi; Dr. R. Sreedher, Director, CEMCA, Commonwealth of Learning, New Delhi; Mr. Deep Joshi, PRADAN, New Delhi; Mr. Sajan Venniyoor representing the Community Radio Forum, New Delhi; Mr. S.H. Indrukar, Deputy Director, CAPART, New Delhi.

There are three to five special invitees to the Screening Committee. They may change and be invited from time to time to bring expertise from other sectors.

The Screening Committee has met twice in 2007. The first meeting was held from 10-12 September 2007. The second meeting was held 22-23 November 2007. Since the establishment of the committee, Seven NGOs have been awarded the CR licence.

The third round of screening committee meetings have been scheduled from 15-18 January 2008. Mr. J.P.S. Verma, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi; Mr. C.T. Mahajan, Additional Apprentership Advisor, Ministry of Human Resources Development, New Delhi; and Ms. Jocelyne Josiah, Adviser in Communication and Information, UNESCO, New Delhi will be participating as Special Invitees to the upcoming meetings.

For those who are interested to learn more about the policy, the guidelines, the processes of application, for NGOs and CBOs to set up a community radio station in India, please link up to: http://mib.nic.in/CRS/CRSmainpg.htm.

Hope you all benefit from this post! Enjoy the new year with more CR stations in India.