Last Saturday, on 14th of April 2012, the Pul‐e‐Jawan India forum was held at India International Centre, New Delhi, which brought together citizen journalists, senior journalists, alternative media practitioners and representatives of cultural organizations promoting peace in diversity and conflict situations.
Osama Manzar, founder of Digital Empowerment Foundation, began the proceedings by hosting and the anchoring the first session “Freedom of Expression & Activism”.

Dr Madanmohan Rao, editor of the Asia‐Pacific Internet Handbook, described how social media is helping activists work on causes within a country as well as between countries. It is easy to protest (at least in democracies) but tougher to go beyond “smart swarms” and build stable movements. Social media helps activists and ideas connect via exchange and circulation of ideas and online and offline meetups.

Barun Mitra, Liberty Institute, indefenceofliberty.org, opined that poems are the oldest form of social media, starting off in the oral era and for social media to be successful, ideas have to connect, not just technology. Paranjoy Guha Thakurta joked that journalism began with a ‘mission’ but has now been converted into ‘commission’! “India is the only democracy in the world where government still controls news on radio, this must change,” he said.

An Urdu storytelling session called Dastan‐e‐Taqseem‐e‐Hind (on the Partition of India) in medieval format of Dastangoi was performed by Ankit Chadha and Darain Shahidi.

Dastangoi is a lost art form of storytelling in Urdu being revived recently by Mahmood Farooqui and Danish Husain. This was a hair‐raising performance and shook all participants as different tales and facets of the tragic and gruesome partition of India was retold with surprising elements of humor.

A video connection was established with Shahzad Ahmad of BytesForAll, Pakistan, who made a passionate plea to work together towards peace. One of his suggestions was to deliberate on the possibility of converting Siachen into a Peace Park, rather a symbol of conflict and animosity.

In the next session, “New Media & Technology: Creation of Alternative Spaces”, commenting on the evolution of media, Jay Vikram Bakshi, Social Media Evangelist, said that desktop publishing has now evolved to “push a button in your hand” publishing and the challenges in digital media are new narrative skills in creating and following multiple threads of discourse. “Cloud power is unleashing new streams of consciousness, but we need curation on top of wisdom of the masses,” he said.

Jessica Mayberry, Founder Director, Video Volunteers.org, said her media NGO is addressing those who have been excluded from mainstream journalism. “We had 60 journalists who documented the presence and impact of ‘Untouchability’ in India,” she said, and showed a few videos, including that of of kids being separated in schools during lunchtime based on caste and dalits going to cities for a haircut because the village barber would not cut their hair.

Shubhranshu Choudhary, founder of CGNet Swara in Chattisgarh, said that less than 1% of the state’s population is online. “Pre‐1947 media in India was undemocratic, and ruled by colonisers and aristocratic classes. It is still aristocratic – can we change it with new media?” he asked. Marguerite Miailhe from “Imagination For People” explained how her organization is connecting people with imagination for the common good, using wiki platform. “Social managers” in South Asia can connect with projects and communities via their portal imaginationforpeople.org.

During the session, “Citizen Media for Culture and Community”, Archana Kapoor, founder of Community Radio Mewat, urged the government to change the relevant laws and let community radio broadcast news. Chintan Girish Modi, writer and educator and part of “The Kabir Project” said Kabir’s work has lots of relevance in today’s context as well. A core message from Kabir is to ‘stop pointing fingers’ and blaming others for problems, but take charge actively oneself in coming up with the solution.

Piali Bhattacharya, from Breakthrough.tv shared on Bell Bajao, showed how social media and local community interaction can be used to tackle domestic violence. Rajendra Negi, founder, Henvalvani Community Radio, said his radio station was launched in March this year and has already received more than 2,000 listener calls so far. Roshan Nair, program director of Gram Vaani Community Media, said that India has a big Internet literacy curve in rural India. Osama Manzar observed that mobile phone converges community radio, citizen media, and the Internet, and can help fill this rural divide.

On the final session on Peace & Conflict Resolution, Gautam Chikermane, Journalist and Blogger, began by explaining that he blogs about religion, and that can unfortunately attract a lot of hateful comments. “Religion is not just a faith but an organiser of society,” he said. “One must watch out for unsubstantiated statements on social media,” said Gautam Chikermane. He wrote about the deportation of Peters Heehs (biographer of Sri Aurobindo), and got “shallow reactions” from many twitterati. But there can be harmony between large and online media, as the Huffington Post shows.

Sharib Ali, researcher and citizen journalist, was part of the India team which visited Afghanistan recently. “I met an Afghan film‐maker who made videos of day‐to‐day events and joys in Afghanistan. He got a standing ovation, for showing stories beyond the extreme, and not from foreign media,” he said.

Raju Moza, citizen journalist, said his team interviewed people in Afghanistan and they want stability from the Pakistan side. “We need to remove hatred towards each other’s countries, by all tools and medium including social media,” he urged.

Shivam Vij, journalist and founder of Kafila.org said that, “Social media helps you listen in during internal conversations of each others’ countries, and gives you new insights. Unfortunately, India‐Pakistan online debates often lead to attack on each other’s founding leaders and finally degenerate into personal abuses.”

“I know of family members in India and Pakistan who interacted online after decades. A Pakistani girl also got to India to watch a cricket match thanks to support from Netizens for tickets, visa, and travel.

Social media shows you the power of kindness of absolute strangers,” Vij observed. Dilip Simeon, Chairperson Aman Trust, made a strong appeal to citizens and journalists to stand up for fair judgments from courts and politicians. Citizen journalism requires courage, and journalists must be prepared for the consequences. “In India we are expert in changing the subject, and end up condoning violent acts like disruptions of movie shootings,” he added. He argued against notions of collective guilt.

One can’t blame all Muslims for India‐Pakistan partition, or blame all Hindus for Dalit oppression, or blame all Christians for the Inquisition. “Keep talkshopping, it will get you somewhere. There is nothing wrong with talkshops!” said Shivam Vij.

“Use social media to organise online, but go offline, meetup and actually do something on the ground,” advised Sharib Ali. “Pick concrete issues around which to have a debate, not just hot air,” added Dilip Simeon.

“We need regional talkshops not just online, but face‐to‐face also,” concluded Osama Manzar. Pul‐e‐Jawan is an initiative of Internews with Digital empowerment foundation (DEF) as country partner in India, Bytesforall in Pakistan and Afghanyouthvoices in Afghanistan .

Earlier on 11th and 12th of April 2012, Pul‐e‐Jawan Pakistan was held in Islamabad, Pakistan, titled “Celebrating diversity ‐ Social media connecting Pakistan & beyond!” The event received overwhelming response and interesting part of the event was the theatre performance called Aman Girah –Entangled peace by William Parvez and group of artists.

Influenced by the increasing role of social media and citizen media networks, DEF in India has taken Pule‐Jawan to the next level by initiating Citizen Media Network ,which has been formed as an umbrella activity to consider social media as tools for free expression and to be advocated to be used for relationship building between people, regions and nations .
About Pul‐e‐Jawan Pul‐e‐Jawan literally means “Bridges of Youth” in Dari, as well as in Urdu and Hindi. The aim of Pul‐e‐
Jawan is to transform the conflict in South Asia by highlighting youth perspectives on common challenges and aspirations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. By facilitating an exchange between citizen journalists of these three countries, and providing a platform to discuss issues usually ignored in the debate about security, Internews hopes to create a paradigm shift in the discussions about peace and reconciliation in the region. This initiative is supported by Ploughshares Fund.

Amarendra Srivastava, cj@defindia.net or

Shahid Siddiqui (siddiqui@defindia.net)

Citizen Media Network, 3rd Floor, House No. 44, Kalu Sarai, (Near IIT Flyover) New Delhi – 110016
Tel: +91‐11‐26532786 | Fax: +91‐11‐26532787 | www.citizenmedianetwork.org

WSA also hosted the Winners Conference where all the participants and winners showcased their products and services to the audience in the Cairo ICT Summit 2012.  As a special session, WSA also hosted a discussion on Mobile for Poor where Mr. Osama Manzar, chairman of the Manthan Award and the mBillionth Award and also the member of the board of directors of the WSA presented the best practices in terms of Mobiles for Good as an example from mBillionth Award and it was highly appreciated.  Further, Mr. Manzar also hosted and moderated the Winners Conference session related to e-Learning and e-Education.

Famous for the diversified role in hosting Mobile Content Award this year, WSA is into its second episode and will also be hosting the next WSA Mobile Content Award in Abu Dhabi later this year.

The programme is implemented in the country by Bytes for All in partnership with Reclaim Your Space (RYSe), a Pakistan based collective of campaigns and social enterprises and it serves the primary purpose to enable women to reclaim their right to public and social spaces. Bytes for All has stepped forward to put together the previous year’s outreach from its various primary campaigns and major collaborations such as Take Back the Tech, Digital Security and Internet Rights, Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) , Open e-Governance and Pul-E-Jawan to make an amalgamated platform. The eNGO Net Pakistan is a collective brainchild to inter-relate activism, engagements and outreach with a target to achieve comprehensive development and goals of the grassroot organisations within the network.

The initiative will provide offline and online tech support to the member organisation of eNGO Net Pakistan with a prime focus on integrated development.  The workshop has opened up a new threshold of opportunities for many grassroot NGOs in the country. The organisations who have signed up for the eNGO Net Pakistan will be facilitated with range of facilities such as  free .ORG domain names and website set-up, trainings for maintaining their websites and host of other services. The participant organisations referred different organisations which could be benefitted by the eNGO programmes in Pakistan.

The following is the list of participants in the eNGO Workshop, Pakistan:

• Yousaf Ajab — Human Prosperity Organisation (HPO), Kalat, Balochistan;
• Zahoor Baloch — as above;
• Mukesh Kumar — Sandesh, Hyderabad, Sindh;
• M. Ali Mir — Aghaaz, Mirpur, Pakistan-administered Kashmir;
• M. Ahsan — Seed Pakistan — Rawalpindi, Punjab;
• Salman Khan — Seed Pakistan — Rawalpindi, Punjab;
• Caesar Ali Khan — OPDS — Buner, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa;
• Qamar Shahzad Ruben — Faces, Pakistan — Hyderabad, Sindh;
• Fakhra Hassan — Drag It To The Top! — Lahore, Punjab;
• Saba Ismail — Aware Girls — Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa;
• Adnan Hussain — The Awakening — Saidu Sharif, Swat, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa;
• Dawood Shah — CRY — Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa;
• Syed Mohd Gillani – Change Foundation — Multan, Punjab;
• Farhat Firdous — Evolve — Karachi;
• Sana Kazmi — Zindagi Trust — Karachi;
• Nobahar – PILER — Karachi;
• Khurram Ali — National Students Federation — Karachi;
• Mir Askari Abbas — as above;
• M. Sauman — Academy for Research & Training (ART) — Karachi;
• Fatima Zaidi — as above;
• Sana Robab — Youth & Women Development — Karachi;
• Sanaa Hasan — War Against Rape (WAR) — Karachi;
• Dr Bari Awan — CEDF — Karachi.

The Digital Empowerment Foundation brought Mahato to Delhi, put him through an ICT and computer training programme, and provided him with equipment to run a community information centre. Meanwhile, the concept of community radio was picking up and the Barefoot College (BFC) in Tilonia village in Ajmer district commissioned Mahato to set up a low cost studio, making cheap FM radios, and putting together the digital infrastructure to run a station. Mahato has digitized BFC’s records of folk music, art, and culture. Along with these, he has recorded programmes of local relevance, the Right to Information Act, and the National Rural Employment Scheme. Know more

DEF firstly rolled out its services for SEWA, Ahmedabad and Barefoot College Campus in Rajasthan. DEF supported by providing training, capacity building, content training, and development, monitoring and evaluation programmes.

Now DEF along with CEMCA has been transformed as a CR Facilitator Centre and help in applying for Community Radio License Process.

Ms. Ritu Srivastava & Mr. Amit K. Sanga from DEF had an Internship with CEMCA and facilitate as a facilitator. For the same, I would request you to apply for Community Radio License. We would be helping you for applying CR application and providing detailed information.

CR Policy Guidelines

The application will be processed through the below Ministries:

• Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB)
• Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP)
• Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC)

The eligibility criteria for applying to set up of a CRS:

• You must be a registered body like a not-for-profit society (Societies Registration Act), Educational Institution, Agriculture College or Institution or Residents Welfare Association, or other such act relevant to the purpose)
• Your organization should have a very active community base
• You should have been in existence for at least three years
• Your governance structure like Board, Management, Advisory Board, etc. must be well defined
• No member of the Board/ Founding Members should be related to each other
• CR Station to be operated by it should be designed to serve a specific well-defined local community
• Ownership and management structure of the CRS should be reflective of the community that the CRS seeks to serve
• Programming should be relevant to the educational, social, developmental and cultural needs of the community it serves

Documents you need to submit along with your application:

• A valid email address
• GPS data for details of longitude and latitude of exact spot where the CR tower will be located
• Proof of recognition for educational institution or Society
• If Society, should have been in existence for three years (furnish proof)
• Registration Certificate
• Memorandum of Article of Association
• Balance Sheets of last three years
• Profile of organization
• Details of community/area to be served
• Objectives sought to be achieved through CRS
• If aided educational institution? Then describe (by whom)
• Scanned copies of all proofs must accompany your electronic application and hand submitted copy (or sent by post) should have copies attached with the main application
• Demand Draft of INR 2500 drawn in favour of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, GOI (submit scanned e-copy if filing electronically, and send the originals by post)

The estimate cost for setting up a CR station

• The cost of setting up a CR Station besides the Fees that you have to pay the MoIB and DOT, MOCIT, Government of India, the price will vary depending on various parameters.
• It has been evidenced that the costs can vary from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 15 lakhs
• This includes Capital Expenditure: Construction of Studio, Rooms and Other Civil Works; Construction, testing of Transmission Tower; Electronic Equipments like recorders, mikes, computer, mixers, etc., and some amount of furniture, etc
• The Operational Expenditure includes: Salaries, Honorarium to artistes/ community members participating, electricity, Internet costs, administrative expenditures, tapes/CDs

Contact

Ritu Srivastava at ritu@defindia.net

Or

Amit Kumar at amit@defindia.net

Tel No: 011-26532786

Anna FM was India’s first campus “community” radio station. Launched on 1 February 2004, it is run by the Education and Multimedia Research Centre (EMRC); all programmes are produced by Media Science students at Anna University.

With due courtesy to CRF Know more

The Digital Panchayat programme is a joint initiative of NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India ) and DEF to provide a digital identity and platform to the panchayats in rural India. The vision of the project is to empower the grassroots panchayats through digital inclusion and providing internet awareness for better workflow. Interactive web portals are issued to the local community through the project and it is maintained by them for a transparent administration. It benefits the community by improving local governance, enquiry and delivery of services, global exposure and Information access to everyone.

The project has currently a strong working base covering over 500 Panchayats across 10 Indian states and is focused on providing the next generation ICT tools accessible to the masses. The software(s) received from Microsoft will be of great help for the project and will help the project sustain and educate more rural population.

With its various stakeholders, including APC (Association of Progressive Communications), DEF has published the report in GIS Watch focused on ‘The Internet, Human Rights and Social Resistance’ to address the issue of Internet and making it as a basic human right in India.

While addressing this issue at national-level, initiated a thought-process within the organization, and it took a shape in a form of DEF’s objective and now it is a part of the organization mission to advocate Internet as a basic human rights.