 Thank you, sir, for your insightful and thought-provoking deliberation. It was an honor listening to you and we look forward to more such interactions in a near future. We have with us Mr. P. J. Borua, executive editor of one of the oldest dailies of Assam, the Assam Tribune. Mr. P. J. Borua is a senior journalist with over 30 years of working experience in Assam and the Northeast. He started his journalistic career with the English Daily The Sentinel in Guwahati after completing his post-graduate studies in English from Debruco University in 1984. He joined as a principal correspondent of the Assamist Daily, Dhoni Johnan Bhumi, at the Guwahati office in 1986. In 1987, he became the not-is correspondent of the English Daily News Time of Hyderabad. He later worked for a year at the paper's Hyderabad office before returning to Guwahati in 1989 to join the Assam Tribune. Mr. P. J. Borua has been closely associated with journalism education in the region. He has been a guest lecturer of the journalism department of Guwahati University, Debruco University, Assam University, KK Handic State Open University, Cotton College, among others. Now I would like to request our Chief guest for today's occasion, Mr. P. J. Borua sir, to share his thoughts with us. Respected Vice-Chancellor of Kishnakanda-Hondigo State Open University, Prof. R. Kedas, Respected Speaker, Mr. Prof. Poonarwala, Resister of KK Handic University, Prof. Choudhury, Deputy Director, Nilema Sanjita Kakkoti, Respected faculty and dear friends present here. It gives me great pleasure to be present here on this very auspicious and happy occasion to mark the 12th Foundation Day of the community radio, Gyan Taranga of KK Handic Open University. This is a community radio which is the first in the northeastern region of our country and started in 2010. In the initial years, Dr. Kuran Doctor, who played a very important role in setting up this community radio, he had invited me several times to participate in some of the programs associated with the community radio. And over the years, the radio has gone from strength to strength. And today, as Dr. Poonarwala has said, it's very difficult to sustain a community radio for such a long time. And Gyan Taranga has done it, and that is a big achievement. And we wish that it will continue its success story in the coming years. And for this, I would like to thank the KK Handic administration, the production team associated with this radio. And the other day, Dr. Rukdu Jiti Chaudhary had said that, same day, Sangita Kakoti, she had played a very important role in shifting the station from the old campus to the new campus. Because a lot of technicalities and other things going, you know, for shifting this whole infrastructure from one place to another. So, this was done in a very short time so that the programs could continue without interruption. Community radio, as we have seen that, we have about 300 plus community radios all over the country. And in Assam, presently, we have three community radios. Along with Gyan Taranga, we have Radio Nguyet in Guwahati University and Radio Brahmaputra in Jibhupur University. So, what we see is that most of these community radios in Assam are associated with the universities. So, it is sort of a part of their educational program. And most of the universities today are doing distance education. We had Aidul in Guwahati University, and Jibhupur University is also introducing its distance education programs. So, this community radio is serving a very big educational need to reach out to the students in the first place along with conveying important socio-economic messages to the people at the grassroots level. Whether it is about social awareness, about health conditions, about nutrition, about education, social service, superstitions, about child issues, women issues and so on. So, this is becoming a very important medium for many people in the outlying villages who cannot afford, I mean, expensive. So, many people might not be having a television or they cannot go for other expensive medium to get news and other things. So, for many people, a radio is still a valuable or important source of information and entertainment also. We still remember in our young days how radio played a very important role in our lives, how we used to listen to commentaries of cricket matches being played in England, or among between India and England, or about entertainment programs, whether it is Kittimalika or Radio Shillowl or women listening to this series and other drama programs being broadcasted. So, radio is a very part of our, a strong part of our lives, or it was found in spite of, besides information, news and other things, it gave us entertainment and also educated us on various issues. So, today, a community radio at this point of time, as Mr. Prof. Punawala has already said. So, there are a lot of challenges it has to face. I mean, we have so many competition and other mediums of, you know, information, entertainment all around us at the press of a button, starting from the smartphone. So, today smartphone is becoming a server so prevalent, whether it's in a village or among all sections of the society. So, people might not buy any other things, but they will buy a smartphone. So, it has become something like that. So, at the age of smartphones, so, a community radio faces a big challenge. But, what we would like to see today that community radio, I mean, should spread out. It should not be, I think, confined to only educational institutions and all that. Community radio has a big role to play, say, in a region like Northeastern region. This is, the connectivity is very bad, where we have a lot of natural hazards, whether it's flood, erosion, landslides, we have other storms and other problems. So, these are areas where community radio can play a very important role in times of distress. Apart from that, say, a small community consisting of, say, about 20-25 villages can form a community radio and share information among themselves about their agriculture, about, they say, communications, about so many other issues prevailing there, about diseases breaking out, about any some problems in their educational institutions. So, this can be, you know, they can be, people can share, communicate, they can suggest ways to find solutions and all that. So, community radio, I believe, should be used very extensively, you know, and it should be controlled by the community, it should be produced, the programs and other things could be produced by the community so that they can share. And there are people, I think, who can contribute financially for the upkeep of such community radios. I think the whole paradigm should change with new ideas and new concepts. It should not, community radio, I believe, should not continue with the old concepts and old, you know, old, I mean, what you call agendas or parameters. It should cross the boundary and go and go among the people. Of course, they have that objective, but I think it should be free from, you know, the age-old, I mean, parameters of our barriers of, say, finance of, you know, old concepts of being concentrated only in some limited areas and all that. So it should be, the concepts should be made more popular. The community radio equipments and other things should be, the cost factors should be also made less expensive so that, you know, people can easily set up a community radio. And for a big country like India, so I think 300 community, 300 plus community radio is, I think, that isn't something we, you know, it's very negligible for a country like India. So we want community radios coming up in a very big way, you know, contributing for the social, economic development of the people. So it can be a catalyst of change. So at a time when, say, pre-media is under decline, when, you know, everything is becoming digitalized and all that. So community radio as a form of, you know, medium, technical medium can play a very important role because when you are getting in other mediums, something which is not from your area and all that. So something happening in, say, Bihar, Maharashtra or Delhi might not interest you. But when you hear something happening in your area, discussing something about your problems, a farmer discussing his problems in the radio, what can you do? There's some pastor attacking our crops, what can we do? We are talking with this officer that we are using this sort of insecticide. So this sort of interaction, you know, something people can share their sorrows, their happiness, you know, their expectations, what we can do. They can plan on the radio what could be the agenda for development, people suggesting things and all that. Folding can be arranged and all that. So I think the whole community radio concept is becoming today very, I mean, still now, it is very straight-less or very confined to, very academic and, you know, in a very inward way, I think. So there is a lot of possibilities for community radio in India, in Southeast Asia, Africa, you know, or other Latin America and all that. So to come up in a big way, I think India should show the way how things can, medium like community radio can be picked up, developed and make it for the catalyst of change. Making things happen among our people and we have today the government coming adopting lot of schemes and strategies depending on technology. So till the other day, we had schemes where people, you know, even the Prime Minister of India like Rajiv Gandhi had said, that if I send one rupee for development to the people, from one rupee only 15 paise reaches the beneficiary lane. 75 paise or 85 paise is lost on the way someone morose it like. So only 15 paise reaches the beneficiary. But today, the government has introduced already that the beneficiary gets the amount of money in his account. So at least the middleman and other, you know, corrupting influences are, you know, are being kept on the sidelines. So technology is being used here so that the monetary benefit which is being given to a beneficiary reaches the person on time, in his account or in his hands. So that way technology has to be used today in community radio also to bring in changes and use it as a catalyst of change. Dr. Puneva has said about how community radio has played a big role during the pandemic and it has shown how, you know, we can operate how community radio's importance during times of distress and all that. So this is a glowing example how community radio can be utilized, you know, for development to combat pandemics, to combat our natural hazards. So there are a lot of possibilities and I think this is one area we are not speaking much about. And of course, there is a fear among, say, the political class of fears that community radio might be used, you know, as a political tool to say, you know, to use for political purposes. So I think that can be taken care of. So when there are some rules and regulations are set in. So you can avoid the political deliberations and other things can be taken part as a healthy democracy. I think why should politics be kept apart? We can discuss politics also. If you can discuss politics in other mediums as a democratic, this is why you keep it out from, say, the community radio. But there might be some rules and regulations so that political community radio might should not be used, should not be allowed to be used as a political tool by any particular party or like that. So that should be a level playing ground for all political parties to interact and making people aware about the political challenges or political decisions they have can make as a democratic, a citizen of a democratic country. So similarly, finances and other things can be taken care of once we have the will and the government has the political will to, you know, to open up community radio as a medium of change and bringing, you know, revolutionary changes to introduce it in the grassroots level in a big way. So in fact what I would like to say is that political will at the end of the day will be very important to make community radio an important tool of change. So in the coming days if the government and the political class believe that we can use it as a tool of catalyst for development for and they can have the confidence and the courage to implement. But that is also very important because when the political parties are there they might not like the idea. But we have to convince them that this is for the greater good of the nation, for the greater good of the people and once they are convinced and the political will is there then we can implement such revolutionary schemes which can be a source of big changes in our country. Before I conclude, I thank our measures for inviting me to this obvious occasion. I thank Dr. Kanawala for coming here and inviting us on this pandemic and other issues relating to community radio. Thank you once again. Thank you so much. Thank you sir for your valuable deliberation on the theme and also for enlightening us on the various aspects of community radio including its importance to society. Now I would like to request Vice Chancellor Krishnakanta Handig, State Open University, Professor Rajendra Prasad Das to deliver the presidential address. Good afternoon everybody. The chief guest of the occasion, Sri Prasad Bharwaji, the keynote speaker, Sri Professor Vinod Pawarwal, our registrar, Dr. Auroop Jyoti Chaudhary, the center in charge, Sangeeta Ji, all the faculty members, students and media persons. In fact, I was also wondering what I should speak on this occasion. But after listening, Pawarwal Ji and Bharwaji, I feel I should also speak something on this occasion. At the outset, I must congratulate all the people of the center for celebrating this 12th year of its existence of this Ganbani program of this, our university. In fact, Gan Tarang is something very unique. We have completed 12 years of our existence, very successfully starting from inception to this day. Many things have been done. I was just going through the report which was provided to me. In fact, all of us, people of our generation, were born in the age of radio. But Prasad Ji correctly said, we were born in the age of radio. You are all our children, you youngsters are born in the age of computer information technology revolution. So whenever we listen anything about radio, we feel thrilled. We have some emotional attachment with radio. And I will add to what he said that if somebody was having radio in the house, it was a status symbol of that house during our time. But today, that is considered one of the outdated piece of thing at home. I had one on Philip's radio long back when I was student, I had purchased it. So my children could not recognize what it is. They say why it is so long, big one is kept in the house. But I remember how informative it was as a medium of communication. The morning was started with the news. Many informations which was otherwise difficult to get for a common man in the village, we talk about reaching the unreached. It was only possible, radio was the only mechanism, only media of information, mode of information for us. Unreached people, common people of the not only of Assam, of the entire country. When I openly accept that it was difficult for us in the village to read newspaper. Even newspaper was also not everybody's cup of tea. Everybody was not getting newspaper in the local language, English was a dream. Today the things have changed. But again the things are revived. Again the days of radio is coming. When our honorable prime minister talk about monkey bath, he is using the radio to communicate his mind, what he thinks about the different issues of the country. And why is using radio that is what also we should ask ourselves, why is using radio, why is not using television, why is not using other media of communication. Because till today radio is there in the villages. Radio is still one of the popular mode of getting communication, receiving communication from different part of the world. Of course very difficult situation today if I say this August gathering that Indira Gandhi National Open University has decided to close down all the radio centers which they had to install it they have spent crores and to close down it they are spending crores. And this activity of Indira Gandhi National Open University is now to be taken over by NCRT. You know this discussion I was also participating in that discussion. Why NCRT is taking over this radio stations? Because they know that the intensity of communicating any message, the possibility of using radio, the intensity of communicating any message through radio is more powerful than any other media of communicating it to the common people, common masses of the country. We say many things, many things are existing, many things are not existing. Because for example we are an open university, we are catering the needs of people who cannot afford to have higher education in their life. Even if we think of increasing the raising the fee structure of 50 rupees, even I have to think 100 times should we do it or should we not. Some days back there was a proposal that if any college is not having teachers, counselors in a particular program, should we allow those study centers to have new programs? Then I talked to the people in our IT department and I was discussing that how we have to look after the requirement of those people. Because everywhere we do not have adequate number of counselors, that does not mean the people of that place should be deprived. So what we decided that we have to take the help of online counseling and to provide the facility to those people through online counseling and we are evolving mechanism in that regard. We were talking to Sangeeta ji that can we use this one radio to promote our online program, our counseling program. Because if you look at the present facility which existed, the radius is only 30 kilometers. Then day before yesterday or yesterday I was asking, can we use it for throughout the country? She was talking about using internet radio. Now I think we have to think seriously about it through internet radio. If we can spread the message, if we can provide counseling to our learners in the village areas. Because we are talking about the counseling, online counseling. Online counseling requires certain facilities which a common man may not have. A common family may not have. A common learner may not have. But there is a possibility, even the mobile which a common learner has, even if it is not a hundred mobile, but there is radio facility in that mobile. If we make a proper publicity of our objective that we are going to provide online counseling through Ganbani, through internet radio, then perhaps some of the problems which are existing to the people who are on truly unreached living in different part of the country, different part of the state, they can be benefited. I hope that in this direction we should have some intensive discussion that how we have to reach those unreached through this Ganbani program across the state, particularly through internet radio facilities. We have to think about this. If it is possible, then we have to develop some policy in this regard so that we will be able to achieve our objective. No doubt it is a fact that you know, young present generation people cannot understand the significance of radio whether it is Ganbani or radio program. But it is, I still believe that there are many opportunities, many things which we can communicate through radio, radio programs because already I was going through the activities which we have done through this radio programs, Ganbani programs. I could see that you know, we are involving everybody, people who are knowledgeable on different issues which common people should know or learners should know. For example, we talk about Ganaparampara. Ganaparampara issue is a very burning issue today in the national education policy. There can be discussion debate in the radio. In our time, we used to listen radio to know about different discussions or discussions even political discussion does not mean, rather in the television we see the fighting among the so-called leaders about issues which are closer to them, not to the nation. But now if we can discuss about these political issues or any social issues or health issues, any issue through this Ganbani channel, I think people at large in the state, especially our learners will be largely benefited. So in this regard, we have to think seriously about it. After a serious debate involving learned people like Vinodji, I think we can evolve some mechanism so that the Ganbani channel which we have, the Tarang channel which we have with us, that can be strengthened, that can be useful to our learners and the people of the state in general. I am really happy that this program has been organized inviting so eminent people in the field and I am confident the debate which we have today, that is going to strengthen this area of our activity further and can be useful for our learners and for the people of the state. Thank you very much. Thank you sir for your valuable insights. Before we conclude, you'd like to offer a moment to each to invite its speaker and achieve guests as a token of appreciation from the end. And for this purpose, I'd like to request our Vice Chancellor to kindly do the honors and Dr. Jury Hazarika Tversi's Vice Chancellor in this regard. Thank you sir. Now I'd like to request the rest of the University, Dr. Oldwoodi Choudhury, who is also the chairperson for today's program to offer the formal vote of thanks. Honorable Vice Chancellor, Chief Guest of today's program, Srijod P.J. Borva, Professor Pavarala from Hyderabad University, who spoke as the key speaker, Dr. Sangita, the Deputy Director in EMPC, esteemed members of the organizing committee and the guest presence. In fact, we are very thankful to Professor Pavarala and Srijod P.J. Borva for formulating the philosophy and the dynamics of the community radio before us. At the same time, we are also thankful to Professor Pavarala for highlighting the role played by the community media, particularly during the COVID times. It's a happy moment for us that we have completed 12 years of our existence. And this year's celebration along with the invitation to Professor Pavarala from the Hyderabad University has only become possible because of the support provided by our Honorable Vice Chancellor. Coming to a personal note regarding community radio, although theoretically speaking, it is equally important both in democratic and authoritarian systems. I do believe from my experiences that in authoritarian systems, there is a possibility of using the community radio by the regime to manufacture verdict in its favor. But such a threat from the regime is generally not available in democracy, although sometimes the regime tries to do it. But democracy provides a kind of inbuilt resistance to the people and that could be reflected through the community media. That is why community media is all important for us. So with this, I thank once again all those who have made this program successful. Thank you once again. Thank you very much.