NEW DELHI: The Community Radio Conference organised by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) being held in the Capital has emphasised the fact that training is very important and a must to drive community radio services in India.

Addressing the first day of the two day conference that began on 29 September, Manvikas Samajik Sanstha Community Radio director Padma Kuber said, It is very important to train the community so that it can operate its own radio station. Community radio is most required in the interiors of the country where the maximum education level of the people is the matriculation level. Thus, they should be taught how to use the medium of community radio through technical training as well as educational training."

Kongu Community Radio director Dr K Thangaraj focused on the four areas of training - like disaster management, local events, developing business, hospital facilities required to operate community radio services in India.

He said, While it is important to impart technical skills to operate the radio station, at the same time, it is required that community radio should work towards the advancement of the community. Therefore, the community should be educated on disaster management, how to create programmes that are related to local events. On using community radio as a medium of developing businesses like agriculture, community radio can be useful in weather forecast for farmers. A community radio, if developed to its maximum potential, can turn out to be very useful in developing the country as a whole....

Later, Ayodhya Lal Kalyan Niketan's Kripa Shankar Sriwastav cited the example of recent floods in the country and said that community radio can play an active role at the time of natural calamities and help spreading awareness about the floods amongst the locals of the region.

Therefore, while community radio is the need of the hour in the interiors of India, it is vital to give the much required training in order to run the services of community radio, the speakers concurred.