Kolkata: The activities of the West Bengal Radio Club (WBRC) were acknowledged in a research paper by a St Xaviers’ University research scholar. published in the ‘The Indian Economic Journal’.
Research scholar Suman Patra’s paper featured in the journal which acknowledged 35 selected papers from the ICSSR sponsored two-day national seminar on “Vision 2047: Aligning SDGs (Sustainable
Development Goals) with India’s Development Aspirations,” held last year at a Haryana university.
“We have often seen that during natural disasters, mass mediums like radio, television or normal communication goes haywire. Under such circumstances, ham radio acts as an alternative communication. A temporary ham radio station can be set up anywhere in a crisis situation,” Patra said, adding his research will examine whether there is any communication gap between the government and the HAM radio operators during hazard mitigation and rescue operations.
To him, the findings will aid academicians, policymakers and the government to analyse and understand the role and importance of HAM radio during crisis situations, thus leading to better disaster preparedness and mitigation plans.
“It is a matter of prestige and honour that our activities have emerged as a topic of research,” said Ambarish Nag Biswas, WBRC founder and secretary.