NEW DELHI: The Central India Institute of Science and Technology in Indore has been permitted to operate a community radio station with the information and Broadcasting Ministry signing a Grant of Permission Agreement.

With this, the number of CRs in the country has gone up to 67. The Letter of Intent had been issued to the Institute after recommendations of the Inter Ministerial Committee and seeking requisite clearances from various Ministries, and the CR station is expected to be operational within three months as per the agreement.

The focus of the Community Radio Station would be to encourage the community members to speak out their needs and ideas, to create knowledge content for students and to act as a medium for teachers to develop knowledge content relevant to their subjects. It will also ensure that the community is literate and enabled to absorb information through media including radio. Regular information on child health, pregnancy, local health issues and seasonal precautions for women's related programmes will also be broadcast.

The Ministry encourages setting up of  community  radio stations as it promises to provide an opportunity to the local communities to express themselves, share their views and particularly empower the women, youth and the marginalized group to take part in local self governance and overall socio economic and cultural development of the area. Community Radio Station also better informs the society about the developmental initiatives of government and promote transparency in the implementation of the schemes.

Although community radios were allowed since April 2005, the Central Government in December 2006 had liberalized the Policy on Community Radio by bringing in the civil society and voluntary organizations, agricultural universities, ICAR institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendras etc under its ambit. The policy was liberalized to allow greater participation by the civil society on issues of development and social change. Earlier, only educational institutions were permitted to launch community radio channels.

The government in late 2007 also announced that existing community radio operators can take advantage of the revised guidelines for new operators and get their broadcast permission extended to five years from three years.

In the new guidelines, limited advertising and announcements relating to local events, local businesses and services and employment opportunities shall be allowed. The maximum duration of such limited advertising will be restricted to Five minutes per hour of broadcast. The detailed Guidelines and proforma for application are available on this Ministry's website www.mib.nic.in