Print

Comment

Email

Digg

Del.icio.us

Reddit

Twitter

When the news of 23-year old Raghav Mahto from Mansoorpur village in Vaishali district of Bihar and his FM channel first broke out, it was a euphoria of sorts. Not only did it revive the community radio issue, his initiative also caught the fancy of those who have been advocating that with a will and the ability to use ICT tools. Social transformation of an area as backward as a typical village in Bihar or for that matter anywhere in India was no more a pipe dream.

The station was running like a community radio station providing local news and views in the local dialect and entertainment for the villages in Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, and Saran districts. Besides broadcasting popular songs in Hindi and the local dialect, Raghav FM also provided information about various health programs such as AIDS awareness and polio eradication, on literacy initiatives and news about missing people, crime, disaster, agriculture, as well as local functions and festivals.

However, the euphoria that saw many news channel rush its reporters to get the 'exclusive' byte also led the Union Communications ministry scurry for detailed information on the station, with a clear instruction that action be taken if it was found to be running without a license. Soon on March 26, 2006 Raghav FM, which had become immensely popular as the community radio over the last three years, was shut down.

Raghav Mahto (right) with his friend Sambhu: While Raghav is the technology chord that was driving the FM in Mansoorpur, his friend was the modern day RJ. Together they doled out content for the local community of Mansoorpur and surrounding villages		Raghav FM Kit-Antenna: The technology and circuitry that Raghav used included some transistors, couple of low cost chips that was wrapped in a piece of cloth and plastics and kept in a small metallic box, tied on a bamboo atop the local hospital building. This small kit technically served as the dish antenna that was connected to the the Mic or cassette players enabling him to broadcast songs and messages clearly up to 16 kilometers range

While a formal police complaint was lodged against the owner, Raghav Mahto, and the three-member team of the Union Communications and IT ministry seized the radio equipment, he was let off with a warning not to run the FM again without proper license.

The Legal Tangle
Experts in the community radio suggest that Raghav was lucky to get away with a rap on his knuckles; he could have been jailed for three years and fined under the provisions of the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 or Wireless Telegraphy Act 1933. Add to this the fact that he was broadcasting local news and views and playing Hindi songs and one could easily foresee a year's term in jail and approximately Rs 15 lakh in royalty and IPR payments to rights-holding companies for broadcasting recorded music and film songs for three years.

Interestingly, though many might rubbish the development as too miniscule to even take note of the issue, is picking up amongst the various stakeholders-NGOs in the ICT space, proponents of community radio, and many e-Gov champions. And the debate ranges from technology versus empowerment, legal versus necessity, or between 'insane' authority versus 'ignorant' Raghav and his 'invention', taking law unto himself.

So much so that Prof Anil Gupta led National Innovation Foundation has stepped in to assist Raghav and the episode is being discussed in the LBS National Academy as a case study on how the administration should react in such a situation. Besides, there has been a huge support from various quarters-NRIs, affluent farmers and contractors, technology enthusiasts, and NGOs-all of them willing to chip in and raise the annual license fee for a radio station in Mansoorpur.

Fan Mails: Endorsements and requests from across the country asking Raghav to share the technology

The action taken by the Union Communications ministry and the support that Raghav has so far got from various quarters, however, has raised many pertinent issues in a country, which is moving ahead on the ICT path, both as the technology solution provider for the world and also as the country moving high on its tryst with e-Governance.

Legality vs Necessity
The challenges for Raghav FM or for that matter any FM radio at a community level without license are umpteen-legal, financial, and technological, and of course those related with livelihood and sustainability.  Besides, the legal issues have become critical with the Government deciding to shut the Raghav FM.

However, many see Raghav FM fitting the community radio network, though the concept is still buried in the government files with no policy resolution and notification to this effect yet. The only exception to community radio is its use being allowed mostly in campuses of educational institutions and that too up to 50 watts only, with the height of the tower up to 30 m from the ground level.

Nevertheless Raghav FM typically fits the bill as 'community radio for social transformation' and could have been experimented for its technological reasons of being highly economical, in the campus environment too. With the current community broadcasting criteria Raghav didn't qualify for the same as no individual or community is permitted to own a license and run a community radio. But TRAI recommendations for community radio should make the likes of Raghav, a legitimate owner.

The e-Gov Issue
What Raghav 'invented', what purposes it served, and finally why was it being labeled something as illegal are the moot queries for many-including Raghav, the villagers of Mansoorpur and the other village level entrepreneurs who have been inundating this young innovator with request for technology help to set up similar services.

There is, however, a bigger question that is being asked by many NGOs and civil society bodies. If running the typical radio apparatus for almost three years created more benefits than any ill effects, then why should it be curbed at all? Are rules and regulations biblical injunctions that they cannot be changed to meet the larger societal goal, particularly if India is now going full throttle ahead with it e-Gov initiative? Should the country continue with its archaic laws and stifle the grassroots ICT interventions and innovations?

CSC is the Key
While the fate of community radio policy still continues in hang in fire, Raghav FM technology or likes can be acquired at a cost by the government and they are made a compulsory extension of 100,000 Common Service Centers (CSCs) that the Government of India is rolling out in the next two years.

The key to this lies in the fact that India is still largely a country of people who are more dependent on verbal communication than on information in print form. What this also means, is that for communication and empowerment to go together, audio-visual medium should be adopted for rural empowerment.

While the knowledge center equipped with the best of IT paraphernalia would certainly be a boon, it has a limiting factor-it's dependence on skilled manpower to achieve best effect and impact. On the other hand we have Raghav's cheap FM technology available, which can be optimally exploited to offer many of the services that the government proposes to deliver through these CSCs.

Not that the concept does not pose threat, the security threat being the prime amongst others. However, the issue can easily be handled by making the Village Level Entrepreneur (VLEs) running the CSC responsible for the content on the local FM Radio. Not only has Raghav FM showed the way to a low cost solution, it has also given the proof of concept of a service of the community, by the community, and for the community.

No wonder then, villagers wholeheartedly admitted they started having vital information through contents in local language instead of usual radio or TV broadcastings in Hindi and English. One of the key reasons why Raghav FM had become popular among the women of Mansoorpur, is because it informed about all health related issues that the illiterate village women couldn't have accessed despite the posters that health service centers paste on trees and walls across villages.

Since the roll out of CSCs are through a proper channel of state level Service Center Agencies (SCAs) and VLEs, the accountability and ownership is identified. What this means is that adding Raghav's cheap FM technology into each of the CSCs would have least chance of being used for any illegal activities.

Finally, there seems to be only two fates for Raghav and his innovative idea to run community radio. If the Cabinet Council accepts the proposal for the community radio, Raghav FM could not only be saved, but hundreds of such community radios can change the educational, social, and economic situation of the country. Grassroots governance shall be redefined permanently.

Regenerating resources and knowledge in grassroots India can be largely determined by community radio and mechanisms like that. In case the Government is still not ready to open licensing for actual community radio networks, it could well be the end of raw and rural talents like Raghav Mahto and also community empowerment may hit a roadblock that shall take years to overcome.

Shubhendu Parth and Osama Manzar
mail@dqindia.com

Page(s)   1