A community radio station (CRS) may soon come up in Manasagangotri, the sprawling campus of the University of Mysore, with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting inviting applications for establishing one.
The university is in the process of submitting an application to the Ministry, which will provide grants for setting up the station. A committee had been constituted by the university to take the idea forward and make the station a reality at the earliest.
Lingaraj Gandhi, director of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Board, University of Mysore, told The Hindu that the varsity was expected to get a grant of ₹7.5 lakh to establish the CRS. “However, the grant would be inadequate and an enhanced funding was essential to run the station that would host a variety of programmes for students,” he said.
Prof. Gandhi said the EMMRC Centre on the campus may house the station, and students from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Department of Social Work would be roped in to run the station under the supervision of the committee. The station may immediately have a reach of around 15 km from the Manasagangotri campus. “It will be good if the station functions for at least four hours daily airing constructive programmes for students. Lectures, guest talks, and cultural programmes can also be part of the programmes,” he said.
The university is also planning a coaching centre for students aspiring to crack competitive and civil services examination. A proposal had been submitted to the Karnataka Higher Education Council. The DoS in Public Administration had proposed to establish the ‘Competitive Examination Coaching Centre’.
Besides conducting short-term and long-term courses, the state-of-the-art coaching centre with accommodation facilities also aims to provide special assistance to students of socially and economically disadvantaged background.
Initially, the centre aims to coach about 500 students every year, and conduct four training and coaching classes of three-month duration benefiting 200 students. The centre also aims to offer 10 scholarships for SC, ST, OBC, and girl students in each batch.
