People well versed in local languages and cultures will be preferred.
Prasar Bharti is hiring about a hundred people for the newly inaugurated 91 FM transmitters inaugurated by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, in 18 states and two union territories.
TB Nanjundaswamy, Joint Director, News at All India Radio said, “Prasar Bharti has already started hiring people from these 18 states and two union territories. Until now 35 people have been selected on the basis of how well versed they are in their local languages and cultures.” He added that this hiring drive will be completed by the end of May. Training of the selected candidates from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Ladakh has already started in the capital cities of the states. “Rest will also be trained in the capital city of the state concerned,” said TB Nanjundaswamy.
PM Narendra Modi in an interaction conducted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that the FM transmission will take place in 27 local dialects. He said, “Our government is strengthening cultural connectivity and intellectual connectivity also.”
He said, “This is my gift to the people who reside in the remotest of the remote areas of the country. I am happy to inaugurate FM transmitters on the occasion of completing the century of Mann ki Baat series. I have built a special relationship with radio after being a host.”
Modi further said that radio is the only medium to reach out to people living in far flung areas of the country. Through radio, he is able to communicate central schemes to people. He said, people living in the north eastern part of the country will be benefitted the most. “Citizens residing in areas affected by naxalism will get to know about their central government and its welfare schemes. This will encourage them to leave naxalisim and work with the government for the upliftment of the nation,” he added.
Special emphasis has been placed on connecting districts and border areas. The 18 states and two union territories are Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Ladakh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. With this expansion of All India Radio’s FM, it will benefit an additional two crore people who did not have access to the medium. It will result in the expansion of coverage in about 35,000 Sq Km area.
Anubhuti Yadav, Professor of Mass Communication, Indian Institute of Mass Communication said that people living in remote areas like in Ladakh and in North eastern regions do not have television in their homes, so they are completely dependent on radio transmissions. Duringtimes of natural disaster, radio is the best mode of transmitting information to those who do not have access to television. Also, the government uses radio as a means to share information on central schemes, how to enrol in such schemes, who benefits from those scheme and other things.
