'Gyan Vani' on FM in 3 cities soon

By Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI, JUNE 29. Educational broadcasting through FM channel could well become a reality in three cities within the next couple of months as the decks have more or less been cleared for the launch of Gyan Vani in Lucknow, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam.

Though the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has been given a frequency for educational broadcasting in each of the 40 cities for which licenses were auctioned in March 2000, work is underway to launch the educational FM radio network of India in a small way with an eight-hour transmission in the three cities.

When the Cabinet gave the nod for the issue of licenses for FM broadcasting in 40 cities, it was decided that one would be reserved for educational purposes, irrespective of the number of frequencies available in each centre. Also, it was agreed that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting would not charge a license fee for this channel.

The MHRD entrusted the task to the Indira Gandhi National Open University since it has the expertise and the infrastructure for manning such a network - it already runs the Gyan Darshan channel on television - and the license agreement was signed in December 2000.

Though billed as an ``educational FM radio network'', each FM station of Gyan Vani - like the private FM channels - will be a ``stand alone'' station with programming being done by local agencies to ensure that the content caters to the needs of the people within its reach.

This being the stipulation of the FM policy, educational partners have been identified in the three cities where agreements have been signed with the All India Radio for co-location (use of AIR towers).

As of now, central linkage will be only for policy planning, monitoring, budgetary and administrative support. Each station will be guided by a local steering committee in the ``cooperative model'' of functioning that has been envisaged for Gyan Vani.

While the Agricultural University and JRD Institute have been identified for the purpose in Coimbatore, the State Institute of Education Technology has been roped in in Lucknow, and the Andhra University in Visakhapatnam.

Production of software has already begun and the plan is to go on air by August-September with four hours of original and four hours of repeat transmission. Also, according to sources, AIR has recently offered co-location facilities in five other cities: Bhopal, Rajkot, Mysore, Varanasi and Raipur. But for now, the focus is on getting the FM stations in Coimbatore, Lucknow and Visakhapatnam on the air.

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