I&B Ministry to make use of community radio to spread awareness on COVID-19

Although the number of green zones is increasing in the country, the menace of the COVID-19 pandemic still reigns. In order to spread awareness in the rural areas of the country, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is set to make use of nearly 300 community radio stations as it aims to take the government’s message on preventing the spread of Covid-19 to the remotest parts of the country.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar is slated to address the listeners from the community radio stations on Friday evening. He will be communicating in Hindi and English as he kickstarts the dissemination of information on the community radio platform. He will also take some questions from the listeners after his address.

Javadekar is also leading a panel assigned with the task of fine-tuning the communication strategy. Union Ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju and minister of state for environment Babul Supriyo are among others who will be part of the panel to spread awareness about the pandemic.

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Radio communication amid COVID-19

One of the significant broadcasting platforms, Radio has been instrumental in disseminating information as well as a source of entertainment since the pre-independence era. The platform has now become even more necessary to reach out to the rural population amid the COVID-19 health crisis. The All India Radio in a unique initiative had started a narration series by Ruskin Bond, one of the renowned authors and storytellers. The initiative was taken by Prasar Bharati to keep its listeners involved throughout the lockdown. All India Radio had begun with the short series titled Bonding over the Radio on May 1, 2020.

Also, in another novel initiative, the School Education Department in Kashmir had started audio classes from the beginning of the month, in collaboration with the All India Radio. 

The educational broadcast enabled students to learn through the medium of radio while sitting in their homes and the idea behind the initiative was to engage the students and to reach out to them while they are confined to their homes due to nationwide lockdown.

As the nation battles the health crisis, the total count of COVID-19 infected cases has mounted to 1,06,750, of which 3,303 have succumbed to the infection, while 42,297 have been cured and discharged, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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