GS 2: Polity | Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.

Why in News?

• In a first of its kind initiative, the ECI has reached out to over 150 Community Radio stations from across the country to help educate and inform the voters.
• The main purpose of the workshop was for training and capacity building of Community Radios for voter education and awareness.

Community Radio Stations:

• Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting.
• They serve geographic communities and communities of interest.
• They broadcast content that is popular and relevant to a local, specific audience but is often overlooked by commercial or mass-media broadcasters.
• Community radio stations are operated, owned, and influenced by the communities they serve.
• Community radio plays an important role in dissemination of information about government schemes and policies to the common people in local languages.
• India is a land of diversity in terms of language, social practices, dialects and culture, a community radio can be a powerful tool to revive culture and languages that are dying.
• It can help give voice to the voiceless in the backward community.

Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP):

• It is the flagship program of the Election Commission of India for voter education, spreading voter awareness and promoting voter literacy in India.
• Since 2009, it has been working towards preparing India’s electors and equipping them with basic knowledge related to the electoral process.
• SVEEP is designed according to the socio-economic, cultural and demographic profile of the state as well as the history of electoral participation in previous rounds of elections and learning thereof.