Radio silence of the communities in northeast India

Community radio denotes a two-way communication process. It involves the exchange of ideas and outlook from a range of sources and is a media meant for use by communities. India, being a developing nation can utilize community radio as a significant third tier in broadcasting, which is quite dissimilar from public service and commercial radio. It offers a platform to local voices to air their opinions on issues concerning their existence. Moreover, it gains further significance when it comes to certain very remote and backwards areas in the country, particularly the Northeastern part of the country comprising of eight states namely-Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. Though the penetration of the community radio phenomenon can reap huge benefits in this region, the study shows that there is marked lack of community radio media in this area. The analysis has been done on the basis of secondary data. The findings present the glaring gap between the necessity of community radio set-up, the states’ trial to obtain licenses and their failure to set up adequate number of community radio stations in comparison to the other parts of the country.