Government will promote community radio: Minister

New Delhi, March 18 (IANS) The government will facilitate the growth of community radio in the country to effectively convey its messages to the poor and rural areas, Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

"The government will facilitate the medium through (suitable) policies, which will spur the growth of community radio stations in the future," Jaitley said at a seminar here.

“Radio as a medium of communication has made a comeback with the growth in FM transmission. Community radio has provided value addition to the narrative by addressing the information needs regionally," he said.

He said the medium was addressing diverse social issues and situations at the regional level.

The minister said the scope for expansion in the sector was vast in view of the communication needs at the regional level.

Jaitley lauded the efforts of radio stations on sustained campaigns on critical issues related to health and education.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said community radio could play an important role in dissemination of information about government schemes and policies to the common people in local languages, which was not possible through conventional mediums of mass communication as television.

“Community radio could help in disseminating benefits of various government initiatives such as Mudra Yojana, Fasal Bima Yojana and soil health cards to the people," Rathore said.

Jaitley and Rathore felicitated the winners of the fifth national community radio awards.

The award for the most creative/innovative programme content was presented to ‘Radio Benziger’ from Kerala for their programme ‘Sukrutham’.

Awards were also given for programmes with best theme, community engagement and promoting local culture.