NEW DELHI: Although letters of intent have been issued to 233 applicants and grant of permission signed with 102, only 71 community radio stations (CRS) are presently functioning in the country.

This is a marginal increase over the 57 channels functional by March.

A total of 727 applications have been received by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, of which 264 were from educational institutions.

A total of 105 applications were rejected while 389 were under process.

Of the operational channels, 52 are educational institutions, 15 are non-governmental organizations, three are Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and one is a State-level Agricultural University.

Tamil Nadu leads the country with 13 CRS, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 9, Maharashtra with 7, Karnataka with six and Delhi with five. Sixteen other states have one to four CRS each.

Meanwhile, Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that there was no proposal at present to give financial assistance to educational institutions to set up community radio stations.