Kathua, Jan 17 :To build a direct interface between PIB Jammu and the journalists working at district and sub-district levels across Jammu division, Press Information Bureau, Jammu, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India today organised Rural Media Workshop (Vartalap) at district Kathua. The workshop was inaugurated jointly by Additional Director General, Northern Region, Sh. Rajinder Chaudhry and Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, Sh. Rahul Pandey in presence of Ms. Ayushi Puri, Assistant Director & Sh. Sheikh Mudasir Amin, Media & Communications Officer, PIB, Jammu.
In his address during the workshop, Additional Director General, Northern Region, Sh. Rajinder Chaudhary said that as this year is being celebrated as International Year of Millets, media has a great responsibility to spread awareness throughout the country regarding daily use of millets, their advantages, value addition, nutritional benefits, recipe development etc. so that mass awareness is generated across India.
During his address, Sh. Chaudhry emphasized that media should follow Information & Broadcasting Ministry’s various Twitter handles and use PIB Fact-check to counter false information and rumours that sometimes confuse public when some false information is viral on different social media platforms.
In his inaugural address, Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, Sh. Rahul Pandey appreciated the efforts of Press Information Bureau, Jammu for organizing this media workshop which is the best platform for a dialogue between media and government. He further said that media being the fourth pillar of democracy plays a great role in awareness generation as it is only through media that the information reaches the last man in the queue in the remotest corners of an area. He further said that media has always played a pivotal role in information dissemination especially during disaster like situations.
District Information Officer, Kathua, Sh. Neeraj Bhargav in his address said that media must follow the ethics while reporting in letter and spirit in order to preserve and promote public trust, maintain their own credibility. He said, when constitution has article 19 (1) (a), there are reasonable restrictions also to be followed while reporting.
District Social Welfare Officer, Kathua, Ab. Raheem said that the social welfare department has now shifted totally from offline to online mode and now public has been able to avail the benefits of all the social welfare schemes in shortest possible time. He highlighted various integrated social welfare schemes and their implementation in district Kathua like different pension schemes like the transgender community pension scheme, schemes for Divyangs, minority scholarships, development schemes etc. and emphasized that media must disseminate important information related to these schemes before public so that people may be able to take benefits out of these schemes especially those who are living in the far-flung areas, border areas of district Kathua.
District Statistical and Evaluation Officer, Kathua, Ranjeet Thakur provided detailed information regarding completed and ongoing development projects in district Kathua.
LDM, Kathua, Amul Bhatia in his address on financial inclusion said that the people living in the remotest corners of the country are now enjoying every kind of banking facilities which had been earlier the prerogative of only those living in the cities and towns. He stressed on media that the schemes like PMEGP, PM Suanidhi, StartUp India, JJBY, APY etc. must be brought to the public so that they will be able to take best benefits out of them.
Assistant Director, Press Information Bureau, Miss Ayushi Puri in her concluding remarks emphasised on the importance of ‘Rural Media Workshop’ “Vartalap” which is a platform for journalists working at district level to gain some insights about their role in development Journalism & responsible reporting. Besides investigative journalism, the media should focus on development Journalism.
During the Vartalap, the journalists put forward some issues regarding welfare and accreditation before Additional Director General, PIB, Sh. Rajinder Chaudhry who assured them to take up their genuine issues before the concerned authorities for an early redressal.
Media & Communications Officer, PIB Jammu, Sh. Sheikh Mudasir presented vote of thanks.
