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 At a Glance
South Asian potpourri
Afghanistan
Women’s community radio station
On the International Women’s Day (March 8) this year, an independent women’s community radio station, Radio Zohra, in Kunduz, Afghanistan, was officially inaugurated. It is supported by the institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Internews and USAID-OTI. Radio Zohra broadcasts on 90.5 FM in Kunduz and it covers a radius of 20 kms and reaches a population of approximately 350,000. It is the third in a network of independent women’s community radio stations in Afghanistan, established by IMPACS and Internews. The first station was Radio Balkhi in Mazar-I-Sharif, established in March 2003, the second one is Radio Sahar-in-Heart which went on air in October, 2003.
Bhutan
BBS serves Bhutan radio
Bhutanese radio broadcasting begun in 1973. With low literacy and a small percentage of electrical grid coverage, radio is a very popular medium in this country. Bhutan is served by the state-sponsored Bhutan Broadcasting System (BBS) which own and operate the broadcasting operation. BBS radio broadcasts 12 hours every day and gives a daily news bulletin in 4 languages. Its main objective is to inform, educate and entertain the public. Use of Internet was started in Bhutan in 1999, but still it has been restricted to urban areas. Bhutan’s only Internet Service Provider (ISP), Druknet was initially conceived merely as a domestic e-mail service, keeping Bhutan sealed off from the rest of the world; but the-then king decided to give Bhutanese citizens limited access to the World Wide Web. Internet was introduced to Bhutan in 1999. In 2000, UNESCO sparked the idea of radio-browsing programmes to
provide information from the Internet to the disadvantaged and illiterate people and to increase awareness of new ICTs.
India
Namma Dhwani (Our Voices)
India’s first independent community radio initiative is in Boodikote village, Karnataka. It is a cable radio service because India forbids communities to use the airwaves. With the help of UN funds, a media advocacy group, VOICES laid cables, sold subsidised radios with cable jacks to villages and trained young people to run the station. Since March 2003, the beginning of broadcast, Our Voice Community Radio has played a major role in community life. It is
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