The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has turned down a suggestion that All India Radio should arrange for broadcasts of programmes for the benefit of linguistic groups living in States other than their own. The Commissioner of Linguistic Minorities has drawn attention to the fact that “radio broadcasts have become part and parcel of the life of our citizens” and has observed in the latest annual report that demands were received from Sindhi speakers in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, Oriya speakers from Andhra Pradesh, Konkani speakers from Kerala, Sourashtra speakers from Tamil Nadu and Urdu speakers from Uttar Pradesh and Mysore for broadcast of radio programmes from All India Radio stations in their mother tongue. The Commissioner referring to the attitude of the Ministry says that since radio broadcasts are not only media of entertainment but are also a very powerful agency for publicity “there is need for slight adjustment in arranging the broadcasts.” It has, therefore, been suggested that on the lines of the external services of All India Radio, programmes on short wave could be transmitted from some selected powerful radio stations which could cover the wide areas where the minority language speakers are mostly congregated. The Commissioner also suggested that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should devise some arrangement for short feature broadcasts in minority languages.
