Empowering rural poor in India through radio
A community radio station has begun regular broadcasting from yesterday to help empower rural communities in western India. The station will provide a new tool for capacity building, offer agricultural advice to farmers and allow community groups to speak out.
Regular transmission from the Mannvikas Samajik Sanstha Community Radio station has begun from yesterday. Experimental transmission from its Community Radio Station at Mhaswad, District Satara, Maharashtra operating at 90.4 MHz FM started with effect from December 16, 2008.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India had signed a Grant of Permission Agreement for establishing, maintaining and operating the Community Radio Station with Mannvikas Samajik Sanstha in June 2008.
The Community radio station will serve to establish agriculture related knowledge ICT network and knowledge delivery mechanism through community radio as an effective tool.
It will help in capacity building of the community based organisations in the use of audio tool like community radio as a means for social and economic empowerment in addition to laying special emphasis on the themes that support the poor and marginalized members of the local community in improving social conditions and quality of their cultural life.
Mannvikas Samajik Sanstha is a non-profit non governmental organisation (NGO) established in 1994 with a vision to improve the lives of rural women and their families by the participation of local community in the construction of roads, water tanks, housing structures and educational facilities.
It also carries literacy campaigns, anti-dowry, anti-liquor, family planning and conservation of the environment campaigns.
Mann and Kahtao Tehsils of Satara are drought prone areas of Maharashtra where per capita income is lower than rest of the state. The economy of the area is predominantly agrarian with high incidence of poverty and unemployment.
Nearly 40% population constitutes the SC and ST population with low sex ratio of 874. The literacy rate of Lateri and Sironj tehsil is 47.1% and 53.1% only.
The sanstha proposes to air educational, self-employment initiative, health education programmes for the population in the area through the community radio by the active participation of the community.
