With literacy levels increasing rapidly over the past decade, and more and more people having disposable incomes, the media's reach and influence is expanding. But has this expansion and power of media been translated into greater public good? This a haunting and troubling question, writes Jayaprakash Narayan.

Applying for and getting a license to set up a community radio station in India is convoluted. A new publication offers a step-by-step guide to the entire process along with useful information on how and what to prepare before applying.

The terror attacks have raised numerous questions of media ethics, values and news-gathering methods. While the government and politicians faced the wrath of the public, the media too was under the lens. Ramesh Menon reports.

Can technology restore the balance between people in their conversations about public issues? And can this help foster a better and more inclusive democracy, asks Shubhranshu Choudhary.

Seventeen years after the Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot restrict content on radio, it remains impossible for independent news to be aired on radio channels. Navya P K reports.

The decision of the Censor Board to ban screening of Bengali director Suman Mukhopadhyay's film Kangal Malsat is only the most recent instance in a long history of political interference in free creative expression in this country. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Television news in the southern part of the country has largely become the preserve of the various political dynasties, with a glut of channels acting as mouthpieces of the owners rather than objective news broadcasters. T S Sudhir brings us the true picture.

In the last 12 months, at least two radio stations have withdrawn their subscriptions to Radio Audience Measurement, the key measurement currency of listenership in India. Vaishnavi Vittal explores the covert conflict between the RAM provider and the radio operators and advertisers.

The politically motivated appointment of a hardly-known personality to the post of chairperson at the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India has predictably created outrage amongst students and the artist fraternity. Shoma Chatterji looks at the real arguments behind the ongoing debate.

In today’s world, where everything can be done with a tap of a finger, why not something for the greater common good? That thought has led to the development of Equalize, which as its name suggests, aims to empower individuals to reduce social disparities. Rasika Dhavse-Wadodkar has more.

Shoma A. Chatterji writes about a film festival that lacks the glitz and glamour of stars, television cameras and paparazzi chasing famous people to freeze them for the media.

Inspired by a recently released movie, Shoma Chatterji explores how the lipstick and burkha establishes a woman’s identity in public spaces and liberates them in private.

In 50 percent of the killings of Indian journalists since 2010 there have been no arrests so far. We need to come together to protect our tribe, urge Geeta Seshu and Sevanti Ninan.

We usually wake up to their existence when they don't turn up for work. And the first response is annoyance, because of the inconvenience caused to us. Films like Lakshmi and Me open our eyes to the plight of people who hold up our homes, writes Kalpana Sharma.

The backdrop is contemporary India, but the thematic concerns of the film are those of Mahatma Gandhi - the village and the powerless man. Shoma Chatterji reviews Mohandas, Mazhar Kamran's film due for release in February.

Nandita Das's Firaaq is like a celluloid anthology that will carve a niche in the minds of the audience for capturing moving images of the personal anger and anguish at the Gujarat catastrophe, writes Shoma Chatterji.

Lalit Vachani's latest film places the Mahatma's historic Dandi March in perspective, juxtaposing it against the reality of the depriveations faced by the poor. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

For more than a decade now, Supriyo Sen has been making his way through awards bestowed for excellence in choice of subject and aesthetics of creative expression, the latest being accorded for Wagah. Shoma Chatterji looks back at his films.

Joshy Joseph's latest film captures the great poet candidly, minus the halo of genius and her achievements. It also marks a defining moment in the director's journey as a documentarist. Shoma Chatterji reports.

"I wanted to show not just a few victims, but to help viewers understand the mechanics and the politics of trafficking and migration," says Ananya Chatterjee. Shoma Chatterji revies Understanding Trafficking.

Loha Garam Hai is a no-nonsense, no-holds-barred comment on lop-sided strategies of development. It is focused more on information and education than on the aesthetics of cinema, writes Shoma Chatterji.

Hope Dies Last in War is a saga of individual and collective struggle, spanning three generations, to get back the men who remained as prisoners of war after the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Set in conditions that are bare in many ways, Bilal defines the purity and the innocence of the child even in the most desperate circumstances. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Despite its apparent focus on middle class insensitivity to the conditions of the working poor, At My Doorstep makes a more important contribution in depicting experiences of male powerlessness. Romit Chowdhury reviews the film.

Bhor is a psycho-social journey into the minds and lives of inmates of a rehab centre, trying to build a world away from the mainstream. Shoma Chatterji reviews the play.

Bauddhayan Mukherji's film series hands men a proactive role in tackling domestic violence, simply by letting abusers know that they are being observed. Shoma Chatterji reviews Bell Bajao!

A cinematographer remembers his own journey of documentary film-making, offering insights into the technical and emotional challenges of his work. Shoma Chatterji reviews In Camera - Diaries of a Documentary Cameraman.

Vijay Tendulkar's Kanyadaan is not about domestic violence. It is about deeper, multiple, and sometimes invisible layers of violence that is an integral part of society. Shoma Chatterji reviews the play.

The System of Rice Intensification, known to increase rice yields significantly merely by following a few simple rules, is spreading throughout Bihar, thanks to an award-winning film that educates farmers. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Suman Ghosh's documentary about the Nobel Laureate has not found its way to many screens yet. Nonetheless, it is a noteworthy effort to bring the economist a little closer to the people. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film.

Is freedom of speech and expression deeply accepted in Indian society? Or is it merely a European cultural import that made its way along with the English language and appeared in the Constitution because of the founding fathers' genius? Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya reviews Freedom Song, a film and connects the dots.

Sanjay Kak's latest film Red Ant Dream weaves together disparate stories of people's movements and transports the viewer to hidden pockets of resistance to paint a picture of conflict and revolutionary potential in India today. Freny Manecksha reviews the film.

A mainstream Bollywood production in the making, titled Gulab Gang, draws heavily on the circumstances and even the name of a now-famous real life movement, but purports to be purely fictional. Shoma Chatterji explores the questions of ethics and creative morality that this raises.

Flickering Angels, a moving documentary on the lives of children of imprisoned parents in West Bengal, helps a child of an illegal immigrant caught in tragic circumstances to go back to her homeland. Shoma A Chatterji dwells on the reformative capacity of cinema.

The recently held Kolkata People’s Film Festival – an offshoot of the founding movement called The Cinema of Resistance – screened powerful documentaries and feature films portraying the struggle and resistance of the marginalised and downtrodden. Shoma Chatterji reports.

Though based on strong reporting, India’s Daughter remains restricted in its scope, and even strays from its purported objective, thanks to a very pronounced colonial supremacist gaze, writes Shoma Chatterji in a dispassionate review that cuts through the noise.

Court narrates a compelling story and evolves into a hard-hitting realistic portrayal of the Indian legal system. Shoma Chatterji reviews the film with a deep exploration of all that sets it apart from a regular courtroom drama.

Shoma Chatterji talks about caste and the portrayal of Dalit in Hindi cinema beginning with Bombay Talkies Achhut Kannya (1936) to Bimal Roy’s Sujata (1959) followed by many mainstream films, and the small-budget, low-key ones which have focused on this significant social issue in the past so many years.

Debaranjan Sarangi, a documentary film maker, writer and human rights activist was arrested recently in Kashipur, Odisha. Shoma Chatterji writes about Sarangi's arrest, his activism and his films which deal with Adivasis and their struggles.

The tremendous rage against Pahlaj Nihalani around the Udta Punjab (2016) issue finally resolved by the High Court gives a reason to revisit some memorable deletions and suggestions made by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) over the years, says Shoma Chatterji.

Manhole is a scathing celluloid indictment on the state of manual sewer cleaners in India, writes Shoma A. Chatterji.

Shunyota, a feature film in Bengali, has an all-India resonance that will echo across the country if and when it’s subtitled version will be screened, writes Shoma Chatterji.

4 Tamarinds and Toffees is a delightful and nostalgic film on two women directed by a young and thoughtful director, writes Shoma Chatterji.

West Bengal's rail hawkers are women of sheer grit and palpable passion says Sharmistha Choudhury.

Since 1979, this Kolkata school has pioneered an educational process where kids from different economic and social sections of society study, play and share together as equals.

While land reforms and decentralisation in West Bengal have been successful, far less has been achieved in tackling gender disparities and discrimination, says Jayati Ghosh.

Branded as insipidly traditional and rather reluctant to keep up with the up-country changing currents, Kolkata has let itself be swept by a few Bollywood blockbusters. Summer holiday camps for kids and teenagers have taken the city by storm. Children are changing too, reports Kasturi Basu.

Maternity leave is generally not available to adoptive mothers in India, even though an adoptive mother needs it just as much as a biological mother. The central government recently passed an order reversing this situation in part, thanks to Atmaja, an association of adoptive parents in Kolkata. Ranjita Biswas reports.

The hypocrisy with which the Government of West Bengal acted at Nandigram this March is a serious cause of disillusionment and has opened the door to further radicalisation of the dispossessed. Tanveer Kazi presents the dalit perspective, even as the High Court continues to pass strictures on the state government.

Free Bird Productions, a Kolkata-based documentary unit that makes cultural, ethnographic and documentary films, has made two of the more noteworthy films about the recent events in Singur and Nandigram. Shoma Chatterji notes the unanswered questions the films raise.