T. Pudupatty in Tamil Nadu to have Community Radio Station

New Delhi, June 5 (ANI): A Community Radio Station will start functioning at Pudupatty in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has permission for establishing, maintaining and operating a Community Radio Station (CRS).

The Community Radio Station is expected to be operational within three months as per the agreement.

The People's Association for Rural Development (PARD) had conducted a survey across 59 villages in four taluks of T. Pudupatty, about the need for setting up CRS and the requirements of targeted population.

It was noted that out of 708 respondents, 83.05 per cent of the population did not receive any newspaper. 61 per cent of the respondents believe that radio can help them solve the major problems they are facing. 66.7 per cent radio owners tuned to FM Channels.

This pointed to the dire need of a Community Radio, which employs local language and dialect to attract a new generation of listeners if a radio revival is to be achieved.

Besides the language and content, people feel that if they have the ownership of media.

The Ministry encourages setting up the Community Radio Stations as it promises to provide an opportunity to the local communities to express themselves, share their views and particularly empower the women, youth and the marginalized groups to take part in local self-governance and overall socio-economic and cultural development of the area.

It will also better inform the society about the developmental initiatives of Government and promote transparency in the implementation of the scheme. (ANI)