The radio station was inaugurated last Thursday and is now fully operational. Inmates lodged in various barracks of Bhilwara Jail can request songs, recite their own jokes and poetry, and get updated with the latest news and government run programs all through the week.

Jailvaani, a Community Radio Run by And For Bhilwara Jail Inmates
Representative Image. (Reuters)
New Delhi: The 300 inmates lodged in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara prison now have something to look forward to during their jail terms. The experiment that began years ago in New Delhi’s Tihar jail has now been introduced there – community jail radio.

Called ‘Jailvaani’, the community radio will be run and heard by the inmates of Bhilwara jail.

The radio station was inaugurated last Thursday and is now fully operational. Inmates lodged in various barracks can request songs, recite their own jokes and poetry, and get updated with the latest news and government run programs all through the week.

According to jail officials, the radio will go live every day for one hour, between 1 and 2 pm.

The weekly radio will begin on Monday, when patriotic songs will be played first on ‘Jailvaani’. This will be followed by a broadcast of programs run by the government in the state.

On Tuesday, the radio will play ‘Bhule Bisre Geet’, an assortment of old Bollywood songs. This show will accept requests from the listeners also. The songs will be followed by a bulletin, in which news from across the state and the country will be played on the radio.

Wednesday is the fun day with ‘Zara Muskura Dijiye’, a program dedicated to reciting jokes compiled by the radio jockeys and the inmates. This recitation of jokes will be followed by Bollywood songs.

On Thursday, spiritual and devotional songs will be played on the radio. The day will be dedicated to songs that are intended to bring some peace and tranquility in the lives of the inmates of Bhilwara jail.

Friday will be an afternoon of ‘Mehfil-e-Tarannum’. Ghazals and nazms written by the inmates of Bhilwara jail will be recited for one hour on the community radio.

On Saturday, ‘Aapki farmaayish’ program will accept requests for songs of legendary Hindi film singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar.

And Sunday will be ‘Radio Dhamaal‘ day. New Bollywood songs will play through most of the time from 1 pm to 2 pm. On this day some time will also be devoted to important announcements from jail officers.

The idea of having jail inmates start and run their own radio stations was started from India’s biggest prison – the Tihar Jail – back in July 2013. It was named ‘Radio TJ.’ Since then the idea, to keep jail inmates occupied with this creative pursuit has been emulated multiple times in several jails across the country.http://www.news18.com/news/india/jailvaani-a-community-radio-run-by-and-for-bhilwara-jail-inmates-1575755.html