Riding High on Radio Waves
It’s never too late to change the frequency of the frontier areas by changing the frequency of the airwaves that are at the beck and call of the government
By Colonel Satish Singh Lalotra
The month that has shortest days in a year i.e February is also known to have within its folds important days dedicated to an extremely important issue at hand —‘The world Radio day’ which went pass in India without much fanfare. On 13 February 2025 ‘World Radio day’ was celebrated all over the world with an abiding theme to resonate with these celebrations—‘Radio & climate change’. Well this article of mine is not going to dwell upon the stated subject but on a much more important issue which has wider ramifications all over India and more so in the northern most entity of our country—Jammu& Kashmir.
Going by the sentiment of bringing the people of Kashmir and the various governing entities of the UT on a common platform, the army in a much belated move had last year June 2024, launched two FM Band radio stations by the names of ‘Radio Baramulla’- FM 89.6 & ‘Radio Uri’ FM 90.0 in active cooperation with the local administration. Touted to function as the typical ‘Community radio stations’ these both radio stations are now at the vanguard of change of an entire socio-cultural milieu’ which was for decades reeling under the combined force of obfuscations, vilification campaigns and such like negatives launched from across the borders and even from inside of our national boundaries by renegade elements going unchallenged most of the times impacting impressionable minds of the local populace. But not now.
India, the country from times immemorial has been known for its ‘all encompassing’ nature of leading its existence in the comity of nations. ‘Vasudhaiva Kutambkam’ aka ‘The world is one large family’ is still the guiding light in our both internal as well as external interactions with the humanity as such. Community living was the sine quo-non of our living and understanding which is why India is still known to the world as one of those rare areas where maximum diversities existed both in terms of its inhabitants and their ways of life, yet bonding them in an inalienable way.
Can the readers of this article point one single nation of our planet which houses so many diversities in races and yet bound by the commonality of being called an Indian? At least I can’t point out one such country with so many differences which instead of dividing this nation binds them together. Community service is one such activity that binds a nation together. Community radio stations are the right step in that direction and foster this sense of oneness. Community services in whatever form and shape are often seen to have a profound effect on the masses delivering them the goods and the services that are so very essential part of a societal makeup. Our world is full of examples wherein community services not only on ground but also on air have been ruling the roost.
It is with this seminal thought that the Indian army last year went the extra mile in the troubled ex state of Jammu & Kashmir and became an instrument of change by palpably giving a heft to the idea of launching the twin radio ( FM) stations aka FM 89.6 ( Radio Baramulla) and FM90.0 (Radio Uri) in close cohort with the local administration with the sole aim of empowering local communities , nurture local talent as also serve as platforms for news, entertainment and cultural expression that lay in a moribund state since the time the region came into the arc of terrorism decades ago.
With their tag lines as ‘Alfaz hamare ehsaas tumhare’ & ‘Pahadon ki dhun’ Radio Baramulla as well as Radio Uri respectively have been doing a yeo man’s service since their inception. Both the stations have hired and trained local children as RJs (Radio jockey), providing them with an opportunity to develop this unique skill , thus giving them a launch pad to further hone their talents.
Similarly last November 2024, army launched community radio station at ‘Hanle’ in Ladakh a historic village that comprises six (6) hamlets—Bhok, Dhado, Punguk, Khuldo, Naga and a Tibetan refugee settlement. Incidentally Hanle located at an altitude of about 4300 meters, is also home to the ‘major atmospheric cherenkov experiment’ (MACE) observatory, the world’s highest imaging Cherenkov telescope. This telescope is testament to India’s advancements in space and cosmic –ray research. This MACE observatory, built indigenously by the BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Center ) with support from the ECIL ( Electronics corporation of India limited) and other Indian industry partners , is also the largest imaging Cherenkov telescope in Asia.
It will be big surprise to the readers of this article to know that our western adversary, Pakistan is way ahead in taking the same message to their nationals by way of their much publicized ‘Suno FM’ programme that serve not only a small sliver of their territory, but to much larger and remote areas of Balochistan, Sind, Gilgit – Baltisthan & Khyber Pakthanowa. This innovative action by the Pakistan army to rule the nation’s airwaves by way of launching ‘Community radio centers’ has been pivotal in promoting indigenous / native languages as well as cultures in parts of Pakistan that were hitherto inaccessible to the government’s outreach programmes.
Having taken a head start in such matters vis-a vis India , w.e.f 2008, Pakistan has showed that the establishment of ‘community radio centers’ has the potential of creating community based public spheres for the promotion of languages and cultures who might otherwise be excluded due to language difficulties thereby moulding public opinion as per their wont. Thus using native languages simplifies the understanding of information and encourages decoding what is unfolding across their regions.
In Pakistan alone according to the Pakistan electronic media regulatory authority ( PEMRA) approximately 200 plus FM radio stations are functioning which have a solid footprint of Pakistan army thus solidifying their base as the proverbial ‘Unifying force’ in a country that has been repeatedly rocked by sectarian and regional strife/s. The latest upheavals in Baluchistan goes to justify their establishing of ‘community radio centers’ as one such instrument of state power to bridge the ‘trust deficit’ between the ruling elite and the ruled in an area which might prove to be Achilles heel of the ruling elite sitting in faraway Islamabad/ Rawalpindi.
Have we in India been able to replicate the above example in our border areas which are now reeling under the ‘Ghost village’ syndrome? I have my doubts , since in a typical democracy like ours, the control of air waves /radio waves are the sole prerogative of organisations like the ‘Prasar Bharti’ which functions under the watchful eyes of ministry of information & broadcasting and would not brook any interference on its turf.
Is it not high time that a relative ease be ushered in the control of such entities in order to help organisations like the army in the border areas rather than eye them from the prism of tentativeness? Why can’t the union government take full advantage of integrating these border people with the help of security forces and instill in them a sense of belongingness who as it is are functioning in these areas since independence? Or does it take only ‘OP Sadbahvna’ to instill such belated actions? It is not that the union government has not been doing its due diligence in such matters.
Way back in the early 1950s the nation under the premiership of Mr. Nehru had started developing these border areas by putting into motion committees like ‘Maj Gen Himmat Singhji-The north & North East Border defence committee’ which was mandated by the Prime minister to suggest ways and means for faster integration of these fringe areas with the mainland. A dedicated communication network too formed part of the recommendations of this committee. But it seems India requires repeated reminders in the form of various setbacks viz insurgencies in the NE and now for the last 40 years in Jammu & Kashmir to get its act together.
I suppose our policy planners ought to take a leaf out of the deeds of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels of Germany during the 2 WW and see how his repeated utterances over the radio unified the German race against all odds. Is it any brainer that the rules of the game as far as communication with the masses are concerned have changed? No not at all. They remain the same, albeit couched in a different format.
It is up to the government of the day to ‘reformat the format’ of providing and partnering with the army as equals in communicating its stances on various issues on the nation’s air waves as per the changing times and run its writ in the remote areas of our country so that both the masses and the ruler are on the same wave length. It’s never too late to change the frequency of the frontier areas by changing the frequency of the airwaves that are at the beck and call of the government. Sooner the better.
(The writer is a retired army officer and a regular scribe of Rising Kashmir. He can be approached on his email —slalotra4729@gmail.com)
