We can best visualise community participatory programme using the state infrastructure by using the airwaves.

It was like a festival for the villagers of Lesigunj and Panki Blocks of Palamou distict of newly created Jharkhand state in India. People were in different mood and happy because this is for the first time they would listen their own voices and issues on ‘Chala Ho Gaon Mein’, a radio programme made by, about and for them was going to be aired from All India Radio (AIR).

Radio for empowerment
Palamou that was in news for drought, backwardness and recently for the naxalite activities witnessed a unique and innovative use of radio as an important tool for empowerment. People from different corners of the village gathered at the predestined locations decided by them. The first programme was relayed through AIR Daltongunj at 7.15p.m. on Sundays. Community made arrangement for special listening sessions in 45 villages in and around Lesligunj and Panki blocks. Adequate publicity was made to inform the people to assemble at village choupals, schools, and community halls for group listening. This was an entirely a new concept and probably for the first time in eastern belt. A radio deck with heavy sound box was fixed and 100-150 people of all ages sat around lantern of gaslight to listen to the programme. Community representatives of the community radio project organised the group listening session.

I, along with Suresh Kumar, Coordinator community radio, was present at Piprakurd, a Mahato dominated village in Lesligunj Block. At Durga mandap chowk of Piprakurd village, there were 150 people listening to the programme in pin drop silence. We noticed that there was a whisper in the crowd when narrator was announcing the names of the participants and their villages, community felt representation of their village was not included. At 7.45 pm, we invited feed back from the audiences and voice raised by Basant- “It is totally disgusting, no participation of our village—our village school building has collapsed, teachers are using desks/benches for their personal use- our children are suffering”. Lalan Mahato felt the programme would improve the quality of their life. According to Laxman, a young social worker, it would benefit both literate and illiterate community. Devendra Singh felt that this could be used as a tool for combating corruption. Nandlal informed about the poor quality of the production and assured of better performance by their village people, if given opportunity. Others like Giriwar Kumar, Mira Kumari and Rinku kumari appreciated the efforts and came forward to participate in the programme.

I witnessed the power of this unique cost effective media, reaching to remote areas, capable of involving communities at each level like starting from identification of issues, content planning, creative participation and finally programme production.

Visualising community participation
According to Bertolt Brect (1930), “Radio could be wonderful public communication system, imagine a gigantic system of channels – could be, that is, if it were capable not only of transmitting, but also of receiving, enabling the listener not just to hear but also to speak, not isolating but connecting them.” Community radio is a medium of communication utilised by a group of people, living within close geographical proximity, sharing socio-culture heritage, speaking one language. It distinguishes from the mainstream media by strengthening local culture and communities’ participation in all aspects of broadcasting.


It will be a critical voice of the community demanding their constitutional rights and entitlements. The initiative will be meaningful, if it is rooted in community participation and their ownership. It not only reinforces ethnic identity but also promotes social cohesion and harmony. The power of the medium is enormous for social change in a country that is poor, illiterate and having diverse languages/cultures. In India, our present framework makes it impossible to own a radio station, unlike in other countries like Nepal, South Africa, Canada and Australia. We can best visualise community participatory programme using the state infrastructure by using the airwaves in spite of the Supreme Court Judgment delivered by Justice Sawant and Justice Mohan on 9.2.1995, stating airwaves are public property.

‘Chala ho gaon mein’
‘Chala ho gaon mein’ (Let us go to the village) in Daltongunj is using this medium for social development. sixteen men and women were trained in the required skills to prepare and produce a radio programme and operate their own radio service. We found that in three major areas, the participation of women was unsatisfactory. Women do not listen as much or as attentively as men; their participation in the programme is minimal and their issues are not adequately covered in the programme. Many of the people, we met during focus group discussions recalled that programmes were made on the issues like alcoholism, dowry, superstition, corruption, literacy and child marriages.

Community radio in India
Only handfuls of NGOs are experimenting with radio as a tool for social development. Earlier amongst these is the Deccan Development Society (DDS), working among the dalit women in Pastapur, Andhra Pradesh. The DDS has a radio centre, which makes –broadcast programmes. DDS has helped local women from landless farming communities learn both radio and video production techniques. The programmes are interactive among the communities interested in exchanging information. The project depends entirely on narrowcasting. DDS in principal objects the use of state machinery for their production. They are simply waiting for change in the state policy for commissioning the transmitter.

Media of late also focused the community participatory project by KMVS (Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan) from AIR, Bhuj. With the financial support from Department of Rural Development and UNDP, KMVS is empowering the community women to run panchayats successfully in collaboration with Ahmedabad based media activists group, ‘Dirshti’.

Voices initiated Namma Dhwani (India’s first community cable radio network in Budikote, Karnataka), where villagers used the narrow casting to air their own cable radio programmes. Community radio project works in tandem with two non profit making organisations, Voices, a Banglore based development communication unit and MYRADA (Mysore Development and Rural development Agency).

Their focus is on empowerment of the disabled through radio. The first project at Kanakpura is in collaboration with the Maharishi Ramana Institute for Blind. The visually challenged depend entirely on audio for all information and through this programme they have succeeded in building their operational skills for radio production.

The Daltongunj initiatives, in many ways, are closer to the broad definition of the community radio, because here the local communities are involved at each level, like starting from identification of issues for developing the content and creative participation in the production. National Foundation for India (NFI) supported the project Manthan Yuva Sansthan and AID were the facilitators. The community radio programmes were narrowcast by AIR stations as ‘Chala Ho Gaon Mein’.

How it is unique?
It was indeed a unique experiment using radio for development and empowerment of rural and disadvantaged communities. Designed as community driven project, and with a very short span of time the programme generated a great deal of enthusiasm among the local people. Listeners felt strongly to the programme not only because these programmes were geographically and culturally more intimate but also being part of the programme at all levels. Suppressed local talent emerged to the fore, women caught up within the feudal social structure, started to find voice of their own slowly. It seemed people were connecting among themselves and started feeling as its own.

But the process was cut short due to the paucity of the funds and it was disappointment for the communities, who were even willing to pay some money to continue the programmes, hundreds of letter were received requesting not to stop the programme.

Manthan has a mandate in development communication; it is second attempt by Manthan supported by Charkha Development Communication Network to initiate the community radio program in Angara block in Jharkhand, a tribal belt. The main focus will not only help to develop and design the programme by the communities but also find ways to sustain the programme locally after stabilising it in 2 to 3 years through sponsorship from the various development agencies. We look forward to this project showing the way for other initiatives.