A study on the role of campus community radio Anna FM in inculcating everyday science awareness among marginalised women

Abstract

The launch of ANNA FM, India s first Campus Community Radio (CCR) in February 2004, is a landmark in the history of Indian Radio Broadcasting, enabling students, faculty and the community to play an active role in democratising the airwaves. The Community Radio Policy 2002 envisages CCR to broadcast programmes on Health, Education, Environment and Community Development with total community participation. The present study is an attempt to demonstrate through Anna FM s Sakthi-Arivaayadi - Science for Women (SFW) project, catalysed by the National Council for Science and Technology Development (NCSTC). A simple random sample of 314 women from the two slum tenements of Kannigapuram and Kotturpuram in the Anna FM coverage zone was chosen for the study, as the women folk there were already introduced to Anna FM and its programs through a weekly live phone in talk show for over a year before the project launch and showed interest in engaging themselves in participatory development efforts for larger community benefit. As part of the SFW project a 365 episode community radio science serial was produced in magazine format, comprising expert interviews, vox pops, skits, songs and jingles from July 2005 to June 2006 with several themes namely Health, Nutrition, Home Gadgetry, Effective Fuel Utilization, Environment and Food Processing. Everyday Science Awareness on the broadcast themes; the women folk are now more confident, have better control of their lives and feel empowered to take decisions for the family and they are now capable of sharing the newly acquired scientific knowledge with other members of their communities by independently producing radio magazine programs and willing to organize similar outreach activities, with continued support from Anna FM. And a core team of 32 community radio producers from Kannigapuram and Kotturpuram are now actively inspiring an entire community into collective action towards holistic community development through their weekly Anna FM programme productions. newline