Incentive Policy for Setting Up Community Radio Stations - Uttarakhand

What is the Incentive Policy for Setting Up Community Radio Stations?

Incentive Policy for Setting Up Community Radio Stations is a scheme of the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA), which functions under the Disaster Management Department of the Government of Uttarakhand. The policy is published on the USDMA website under Policy and Plans, and the document on file carries the Government Order reference 04(1)/XVIII-13-1/2022-15(22)/2016 and the USDMA file number USDMA-SPRC/5/2022.

The policy promotes the establishment and operation of community radio stations across Uttarakhand, with a stated focus on disaster-prone and remote areas. That placement matters. In most states a community radio policy sits with the information department; in Uttarakhand it sits with the disaster management authority because a low-power FM station that reaches a valley cut off by landslides is treated as early-warning infrastructure. Uttarakhand's terrain: narrow valleys, scattered habitations, monsoon landslides, cloudbursts and seismic risk: is exactly the situation in which mobile networks and roads fail first and a local radio signal keeps working.

Community radio in India is licensed centrally. The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting grants the licence to operate a community radio station. The Uttarakhand policy does not replace that process, it adds state money on top of it, so that an organisation that has won a central licence can actually afford the transmitter, tower, studio and running costs.

What does the scheme pay?

USDMA's incentive has two distinct parts:

• Setting-up grant: a maximum of Rs 20 lakh, or the actual cost of establishing the station, whichever is lower. This covers the capital cost of bringing a new station on air.
• Operational grant: Rs 4 lakh per year for three years following establishment. Over the full three-year window that is Rs 12 lakh of running support.

Taken together, a single new station can draw up to Rs 32 lakh of state support across its first three years of life.

Release of funds is in two instalments. Fifty percent of the sanctioned amount is released first. The remaining fifty percent is released only after the organisation submits a utilisation certificate for the first instalment. An organisation planning cash flow should assume it will have to spend and account for the first half before the second half arrives.

Who is eligible, and who cannot apply?

An organisation can apply if:

• It has a minimum of three years of operational experience in Uttarakhand. A body newly registered for the purpose of this grant does not qualify.
• It holds a valid community radio licence from the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• It is establishing a new community radio centre, not expanding one that is already on air.
• Its proposed station serves an area that is not already covered by another community radio station: such proposals are given priority.
• It can meet the utilisation certificate and audit requirements attached to a state grant.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You are an individual. This is an institutional grant; there is no personal benefit for a listener, a volunteer broadcaster or a radio jockey.
• Your organisation has less than three years of work in Uttarakhand.
• You do not hold the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting licence. The state grant does not substitute for the central licence and cannot be used to obtain one.
• You are running an existing community radio station and want the establishment grant. The Rs 20 lakh is for new centres only.
• You are proposing a commercial FM radio station. Community radio is a distinct, non-commercial licence category under the Government of India's community radio policy.

Which areas are given priority?

USDMA gives priority to three overlapping categories:

1. Uncovered areas — parts of the state where no community radio station is currently on air.
2. Disaster-prone areas, the districts and valleys most exposed to landslides, flash floods, cloudbursts and earthquakes.
3. Remote areas: habitations where mainstream broadcast and mobile coverage is weak.

An applicant whose proposed station falls into more than one of these categories should say so explicitly in the project proposal, with the district disaster profile attached, because that is the single strongest argument available under this policy.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the community radio incentive

Application is offline, addressed to the Secretary of the Authority.

1. Secure the central licence first. Apply to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the Government of India's community radio policy and obtain the Letter of Intent or licence for your station.
2. Prepare a detailed project proposal covering the coverage area, the community to be served, the disaster-communication case, the programming plan, the transmitter and studio specification, and a line-item cost estimate.
3. Assemble the eligibility papers: registration certificate, three years of annual reports or project records showing work inside Uttarakhand, audited accounts and bank details.
4. Submit the proposal to the Secretary, Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority, 36 I.T. Park Road, Doon IT Park, Kishanpur, Dehradun 248013. Applications are accepted at any time during the financial year.
5. Watch for USDMA advertisements. The Authority also issues advertisements from time to time inviting proposals, and a proposal filed against a live advertisement is normally processed in that round.
6. Receive the first 50 percent instalment, establish the station, and keep every bill and voucher.
7. File the utilisation certificate for the first instalment to release the remaining 50 percent, and then claim the Rs 4 lakh annual operational grant in each of the three years after establishment.

How do I follow up on a submitted proposal?

1. Keep the diary or receipt number issued when the proposal is submitted at the USDMA office: every follow-up will be traced through it.
2. Contact the USDMA office on 0135-2664317 or by email at usdma.uttarakhand@gmail.com quoting that number.
3. Check the Policy and Plans section of usdma.uk.gov.in for any revision of the community radio policy or fresh advertisement.
4. Escalate through the Uttarakhand CM Helpline on 1905 if a proposal has been pending without a decision for an unreasonable period.

Common reasons a proposal fails

• No central licence. The most frequent cause. State money follows the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting licence, never the other way round.
• Organisation too young. Three years of documented work in Uttarakhand is a hard condition and cannot be substituted by experience in another state.
• Existing station applying for the establishment grant, which is reserved for new centres.
• Cost estimate that is not itemised, which makes it impossible for the Authority to fix the lower of actual cost and Rs 20 lakh.
• Utilisation certificate not filed, which stalls the second instalment indefinitely.
• Location already covered by an operating community radio station, where the priority rules work against the proposal.

Where do I get help?

• Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority: 36, I.T. Park Road, Doon IT Park, Kishanpur, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248013.
• Phone: 0135-2664317
• Email: usdma.uttarakhand@gmail.com
• State Emergency Operation Centre: 1070, and landlines 0135-2710334, 0135-2710335, 0135-2664314, 0135-2664315, 0135-2664316.
• Uttarakhand CM Helpline: 1905.

The policy document itself is published as a PDF under Policy and Plans on usdma.uk.gov.in, and an applicant should read the current version before filing, because the Authority revises its directions on documents and instalments from time to time.