MUMBAI: Community Radio station Radio Snehi, based in Siwan, Bihar, will be introducing two new programmes- one on Panchayat Raj and the other related to women’s health to its listeners. The Panchayat Raj programme, which is expected to start airing soon, will have 365 episodes, of which one will be broadcast every day. Meanwhile, the women’s health programme will go on air in July and will either have 13 or 26 episodes, for which the ground research is currently being carried out.

“The programme based on Panchayat Raj will be in partnership with the company Ideo Sync and will be a 15 minute show. We will have people like Zilla Adhikaris, Sarpanch and various others from villages coming to the show to talk about the constitution. The show on women’s health will be in collaboration with the Women’s Health Organisation, Government of India,” explained Radio Snehi, director, Madhusudan Pandit.

The CRS, which has a listenership of five lakhs, according to a 2014 survey conducted by Radio Snehi, recently wrapped up its programme ‘Jal Vayu Pradushan’ which was based on pollution. The show had four episodes and was funded by the company- Development Alternative. The aim of the programme was to spread awareness on climatic changes happening all over the world due to pollution.

Radio Snehi, which mainly focuses on social issues, aired live programmes on precautionary measures to be taken during an earthquake, after the recent disaster hit Nepal and a few north east states of India. Professors teaching Geology at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and scientists from Geological Survey of India, used the medium to communicate to the people what they should and should not do when an earthquake strikes.

“The first tremor itself created fear amongst people, which is why we had to broadcast the show thrice a day. We got a lot of calls from the people about their grievances and asking for help,” said Pandit. Fortunately, the radio station did not suffer frequency disruptions or damages due to the calamity. “A repeat telecast of one of our programmes was going on when the earthquake hit. As soon as it happened, we ran out and checked the frequency on the phone and it was working fine,” he added.

The radio station is managed and funded by the NGO Snehi Lokotthan Sansthan.