Voice of the people
January 18, 2008, J.B.S. Umanadh, Frontline
This article introduces Sangham Radio, an FM community radio station in the Medak district of the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh. Sangham Radio, which is managed by mostly Dalit women, is among the growing number of Indian community radio stations that reach out to listeners with programming in local dialects. The station is run by the Community Media Trust, a part of the non-governmental organisation Deccan Development Society, which runs the station to recognise the possibilities for non-literate women as teachers and assist them in sharing their knowledge with the outside world by equipping them with skills of video and radio. The Community Media Trust has gathered enough material for 600 hours of broadcast on Sangham FM, with material such as health and women's empowerment information, interviews, and folk songs. Fears that community radios would be appropriated by extremist groups are being addressed by policy guidelines regulating everything from content to logistics and funding.