The fifth all India conference of listener’s clubs of the Voice of Russia

10 december - The Fifth All India Conference of Listener’s Clubs of the Voice of Russia took place at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture (RCSC) in New Delhi on December 8 and 9, 2010.

The meeting was dedicated to the many-year friendship between the Russian radio station and its Indian listeners. The event was organized by the Voice of Russia State Radio Broadcasting Company and the Russian Centre for Science and Culture.

Over 120 people from different states, including those thousands of kilometers away from New Delhi, gathered together for an annual conference of the radio station’s listener’s clubs.

Leading up to the conference, the chairman of the Voice of Russia Andrei Bystritsky gave an interview to Indian newspaper The Hindu, where he stressed that the annual meetings with Indian listeners are an important feedback channel that help to better cater for the needs and tastes of the Indian audiences.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/05/stories/2010120559821800.htm

During his address to the Conference, Russia’s Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin said that “The Fifth All Indian Conference is taking place ahead of an important event – the visit from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, due on December 21-22”. He added that “The significance of developing the relationship with India is also evidenced by the fact that this year has already seen a visit to New Delhi by our country’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. There is no doubt that Dmitry Medvedev’s visit will become the first step to developing a strategic partnership between the two countries”.

A Voice of Russia listener from New Delhi, Alokesh Gupta believes that “Short wave broadcasting from Moscow is very important for Indian people who seek direct and objective information about Russia, since FM broadcasting is only available in a handful of the largest Indian cities”.

In his interview for The Hindu, Voice of Russia chair Andrei Bystritsky said: “Moscow studios broadcast in Hindi and Urdu on short and medium waves, and in Bengali on the internet. This is a far cry from Soviet times when Voice of Russia used to run programmes in most Indian languages on a daily basis. Nevertheless, after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, and Russia drastically scaled back its mass media presence in India, the Voice of Russia remained a major source of news for Indian audiences”. Bystritsky added that “Our programmes today are available via satellite channels, the Internet, and even on cell phones through advanced Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology”. The Voice of Russia plans to expand its broadcasting to Chennai in the future.

The head of the Voice of Russia’s partner radio station in India, Fever FM, S. Mishra said: “We receive positive feedback on our programmes about Russia. Indian listeners want to be in the loop on all aspects of Russian life and learn more about Russian culture and literature, they want to listen to modern and classical Russian music”.

A correspondent for Indian information agency UNI, Nirmal Yadav, emphasized: “The strategic partnership between Russia and India has been developing nicely for a number of years. It is extremely important for India in a number of areas, including military, counter-terrorism, economics and also humanitarian fields”.

A member of staff at the Indian information agency, Sachin Gudhaliya, elaborated on the scope for potential cooperation between the Voice of Russia and UNI: “The UNI Agency intends to widen contacts with the Voice of Russia to ensure the provision of more complete information to Indians about the events in Russia, about the Russo-Indian partnership. In the course of the Conference I honestly felt that the Voice of Russia genuinely brings the hearts of Indians and Russians closer together”.

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