Net domains in Indian languages coming soon
Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has urged the National Advisory Council, Govt. to forgo the spectrum license fee altogether for community radio stations, run by non-profit organisations. In its petition, DEF has requested the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & IT to forego the five-fold increase (from Rs 19,700 to Rs 91,000) in license fee for community radio.
DEF’s petition is supported by other community radio stations including Barefoot College and Henvalvani Community Radio. DEF stated that most of the community radio stations are run by not-for-profit organisations, including grassroots community based organisations like Barefoot College in Tilonia, Rajasthan, and more than 50% of the programmes aired on them are supposed to be made with the involvement of communities. Moreover, government departments and agencies are now looking at community radio as a viable medium to reach out to the citizens with information about the programmes and schemes they are pursuing. However, by law, community radio stations are meant to serve society and are not meant for commercial use.
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