Funding community radios
In Bangladesh, 14 community radios are operating in different parts of the country to help rural people uplift their socio-economic condition by increasing their access to information and encouraging community action. Currently these radio stations are running as non-profit media. They have only a limited scope for earning revenues to meet their operational costs. It may be mentioned here that the Indian government has allocated 100 crore rupees for the development of the country’s community radio sector. At present, 161 community radios are on air in India.
Community radios are functioning in almost all the countries of the world. So, it is strongly felt that the government should allocate sufficient fund for community radio for its development and better management.
Professor M Zahidul Haque
SAU, Dhaka
