NEW DELHI: The government has clarified that applicants for Request for Proposal for selection of a Consulting Agency to conduct a study on listenership, reach and effectiveness of community radio stations in India sought early last month will have to pay an earnest fee of Rs 50,000 in bank guarantee and not Rs 25,000 as announced earlier.

The Government, which recently announced a Rs 100 crore programme to help the growth of community radio, says the purpose of the RFP is to select a Consulting Agency to conduct a study by way of tangible and intangible, direct or indirect benefits to the community in India. It had made some changes in the RFP rules after a meeting with stakeholders on 25 July.

Through this study, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry seeks to assess community radio stations in terms of their listenership, reach and access among the communities they seek to serve and the extent to which they broadcast programmes relevant to the educational, developmental, social and cultural needs of the community. Of special interest to MIB is to understand the effectiveness of community radio in providing tangible or intangible, direct or indirect benefits to the community.

The objectives are to estimate listenership and reach in the CRS community; drawing up a Socio-Economic and Demographic profile of listeners, find out reasons for listening and not listening and gauge extent and nature of participation of community in the CRS; using CRS as platform to identify and promote local talent and culture; assess effectiveness of CRS in providing tangible and intangible, direct and indirect benefits to the community like creating awareness about relevant local issues, providing useful information, promote a rights based perspective, and role played in disaster management etc.

The announcement for bid was made on 13 July and there was a pre-bid conference on 25 July. The issuance of the final RFP was 1 August and the last date for submission of bids will be on 29 August, with the eligible bids being opened the same day.