India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has handed out interim extensions till the end of 2021 to community radio broadcasters whose permission agreements were expiring in June or have already expired.

According to a notice put out by the MIB, it recognizes that organizations operating community radio stations have their grant of permission agreements coming up for renewal, while for some others they have expired already, which could not be renewed due to the pandemic restrictions.

Therefore, MIB has said, all agreements are being “renewed for an interim period up to 31.12.2021 on the same terms and conditions” as agreed upon earlier.

As and when the working environment becomes more normal, the agreements would be formally reviewed for renewals, MIB said.

As community radio stations have been playing a significant role in dissemination of information at the grass-root level, especially during such difficult times, the government decided to hand out the sops of interim extensions.