Community Radio National Conference And the 16th Central Annual General Meeting of the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters Nepal (ACORAB) has started in Nepalgunj from Wednesday.
The program was inaugurated by Chief Guest and Minister for Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Dilendra Prasad Badu. Addressing the inaugural session, he said that defense of the constitution and constitutional supremacy should be the goal of radio broadcasting.
Radio called for continuous advocacy for social transformation and political stability. Minister Badu said that the government was committed to the development of radio. He said that the radio campaign gained new momentum after the people's movement of 2062 BS. He informed that the current government has given a rebate on the renewal fee of radios, 50 percent in royalty, and electricity tariff.
Arjun Giri, president of the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (ACORAB), said that community radios faced many challenges due to a lack of clear state policy. He suggested that the state should pay special attention to establishing a separate identity of community radio.
On the occasion, Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Vaikuntha Aryal, CPN-UML Publicity Department Deputy Chief Vishnu Rijal, Nepali Congress central member Nain Singh Mahar, CPN-Unified Socialist Central member Ashok Koirala, Federation of Nepali Journalists president Vipul Pokhrel and Press Chautari Nepal president Ganesh Basnet. , Senior Vice President of Nepal Press Union Deepak Acharya, Deputy Chief of Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan City Uma Thapa Magar, and others spoke. During the inauguration, various religious leaders chanted mantras en masse.
Former presidents of Community Radio Broadcasters Association (ACORAB) Min Bahadur Shahi and Mohan Chapagain, community radio engineer Dadhiram Subedi, Badghar Patiram Tharu of Tharu community, and artist Shyamananda Singh of Nepalgunj were honored.
According to ACORAB general secretary Kishor Jung Thapa, the two-day general assembly will issue a Nepalgunj declaration. ACORAB currently has 361 community radio station members from 77 districts. Thapa said that one representative from each member station participated in the general meeting. He informed that the current situation of community radio, future strategy, and other issues will also be discussed in the radio conference and general assembly.
Nepalgunj