Jaitley to inaugurate 5th national meet on community radio

New Delhi, March 13 (IANS) Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley will inaugurate the 5th National Community Radio Sammelan here on Monday at Vigyan Bhavan.

The three-day workshop will bring together operators, policy makers, UN agencies and other stakeholders for exchange of ideas and cross learning, an official said here on Friday.

The meet will hold talks on community radio movement in the country and its role in setting the agenda for discourse on development at the local level.

It will witness discussions on issues such as role of community radios in good governance and community learning and promoting livelihoods, water conservation, financial inclusion and literacy.

A compendium containing inspiring stories of community radios from all over the country will be released.

During the event, the national community radio awards would also be presented to promote better programming on community radio stations and motivate the operators to achieve goals of community empowerment.

The information and broadcasting ministry has been organising the National Community Radio Sammelan anually since 2011.

The official said the ministry has so far issued 409 permissions to set up community radio stations in the country, of which 179 stations have become operational while others are in the pipeline.