Music and Youth
Community radio set to take off, finally
NEW DELHI: The much-touted community radio broadcast service, which was announced with great fanfare by former information and broadcasting (I&B) minister Sushma Swaraj last year, is all set to become a reality. Finally!
Annamlai University in Tamil Nadu is poised to become the first organisation to implement the community radio broadcast programme, likely to be inaugurated in February 2004.
What’s more, the central government is also pulling out all the stops to facilitate clearances – more in number compared to launching a satellite TV channel – that would be needed to start such a service.
Annamalai University would be followed by the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) that has also set its eyes on flagging off a community radio broadcast service for its campus.
According to government sources, in all probability, IIT-K’s community radio pogramme would be inaugurated by telecom and infotech minister Arun Shourie.
Shourie has a soft spot for IIT-K. In the past too, he had donated the money earmarked for him (as a Member of Parliament to develop his constituency) to a technology project of the institute.
The sources also said that the government (read the I&B ministry) is seeing to it that the community radio scheme doesn’t get embroiled in controversy and a maze of bureaucratic clearances.
Recently, an expert committee set up to suggest an investor-friendly policy guidelines for the radio broadcast sector, had brought to the notice of the ministry that the community radio service had failed to take off even after one year of its announcement because of the huge number of clearances needed.
Earlier, the justification for delay in such clearances had been that, in a diverse country like India, the government could not allow clandestine radio services to be started by anti-India groups in the name of community radio broadcast.
But proponents of this community radio service have argued that the government should make the procedure less cumbersome and can also easily monitor such services with the help of the local government and security agencies.
The Planning Commission too has suggested that such community broadcasts can be funded by the government also.
As admitted by the I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad recently in the Parliament, over 20 organisations – including universities academic institutes and non-governmental organisations – have sought permission to start a community radio broadcast service.
MUMBAI: Mumbai is about to witness something it has never seen before. The Global Youth Festival arrives on 6-7 December at Jio World Garden with 15,000 attendees and 60-plus experiences sprawled across six sprawling arenas. On its sixth edition, this is no ordinary jamboree—it is a carefully orchestrated collision of wellness, adventure, arts, music, yoga and social change.
Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis will throw open the proceedings with a landmark ceremony, signalling the state’s backing for a movement that has already mobilised youth across 20-plus countries and 170-plus cities. The sheer scale is staggering: 500-plus volunteers powering the machine, 600,000-plus volunteer hours logged across previous editions, and millions of lives touched annually.
The speaker roster is formidable. Diipa Büller-Khosla and Dipali Goenka, chief executive of Welspun India, will share the stage with Malaika Arora in conversations spanning leadership, creativity and culture. Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Mansukhbhai Mandaviya will also attend, reinforcing GYF’s reach into the corridors of power.
But this is not mere talk. The Solaris Mainstage promises concerts from renowned Indian artists. Innerverse delivers a 360-degree LED spectacle of art, technology and sound. The Love and Care Arena houses hands-on projects spanning women’s empowerment, child education, rural upliftment and animal welfare. India’s largest outdoor sound-healing experience awaits. An inflatable obstacle course, neon drifter karts and open-sky bouldering cater to thrill-seekers.
Some have branded GYF the “Coachella of Consciousness.” Others call it “India’s Largest Sober Festival.” Spiritual visionary Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, who inspired the festival, will deliver the Wisdom Masterclass. Every rupee goes to charity.
After Mumbai comes Kolkata on 14 December. New York looms next year. For one weekend in December, Mumbai becomes the epicentre of youth-driven change—and nothing will be quite the same after.
Tickets available on BookMyShow. Visit youthfestival.srmd.org or follow @globalyouthfestival on Instagram.
