This news article shows the unique role radio can play in reaching communities that are not well connected to the rest of the world due to geographical constraints. It’s perched at a height of 11,800 ft above sea level! There is also a mention of a satellite uplink, possibly to link the radio station with transmission from places like New Delhi. They are also setting up transmitters in shadow areas in the region to further increase the reach of the radio.

This is indeed a great initiative as it suddenly brings the people of Ladakh in direct contact with the rest of the country. I was sharing this news article with a friend of mine in Netherlands whose hometown is in Leh. She seemed so excited by the news! Just the fact that people in Leh could hear the FM with its bollywood songs and RJs cracking jokes on current happenings in India will be a big boost to the youth in the region. As my friend mentioned that while families like her’s whose kids are living in big cities are able to be part of the emerging India - with news about and access to current events, latest fashion, trends transforming the country, most of the other families continue to be isolated. They are aware of what is happening in the world outside but don”t feel part of it. This FM station will hopefully change that as it gives the people of Ladakh a platform to engage with the world beyond.

Gram-Vaani is also based on a similar vision. We wants to empower and enable people through information by connecting remote community radio stations to the Internet. One of the key bottlenecks in achieving this today is the large investment required for each village that needs to be connected to the internet super-highway. Therefore, the business case for doing this continues to be weak for most corporates. This is why we see the highest radio station in the world being a government initiative with little participation from the corporate world. Gram-vaani aims to change this through our technological and management innovations. We want to make the business case for including rural communities in the information eco-system so strong that every institution, public or private, would want to do it!