November 16, 2006 is a memorable day to the history of broadcast in India. On this day, the Government of India (GOI) has legitimised community radio in the country, allowing civil society organisations, NGOs, and other non-profit organisations, to apply for community radio licenses, by a cabinet decision. India is the first country in South Asia to have a separate policy for community radio.
Looking back
Invention of radio by Guglielmo Marchese Marconi of Italy, during the last decade of the 19th century, (initially known as ‘wireless telegraphy’) made a revolutionary impact, with its effect of consolidation of communities and exercise of visualisation, on mankind. India, not only has a long history of radio broadcasting, there are also remnants of Community Radio (CR) embedded within. Indian Broadcasting Company was the first broadcast unit set with transmitters from the cities of Bombay (presently known as Mumbai) and Calcutta (presently known as Kolkata) in 1927. The Company was later nationalised as Indian Broad-casting Service(IBS) in 1930. Simultaneously, CR also emerged in early twenties, but all on experimental basis. In 1936,the IBS was renamed as All India Radio (AIR) and it continued with the same name despite the official change of name as ‘Akashvani’ in 1957. It provides broadcasting at three levels
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