Narad Jayanti was celebrated across the country in the first week of May. There are reports of organising functions and felicitating journalists in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, etc. Some functions are to be held in second week of May.
Addressing a function in Panipat, senior journalist and former editor of India Today Shri Jagdish Upasane described Narad as an ideal journalist, who set high standards of journalism. Public welfare was supreme for him. He stressed the need to give more preference to constructive news. Zee Group Chairman Shri Subhash Chandra said the news should be based on facts and instead of joining the blind race of sensationalism we should always keep national interests on top. He said the media should also act as a bridge between people’s representatives and the public. Smt Kavita Jain, Minister of Social Justice in Government of Haryana, was also present on the occasion.
In Dehradun the function was jointly organised by Vishwa Samvad Kendra (VSK) Uttarakhand, Hindusthan Samachar and Vidyotma Vichar Manch on May 6. Addressing the gathering RSS Akhil Bharatiya Sah Prachar Pramukh Shri J Nandakumar stressed on purity of the language. He said the objective of journalism should be to take correct information up to the last person of the society. BJP national spokesperson Dr Sudhanshu Trivedi said Narad always honoured neutrality, which lacks in today’s journalism. Dr Rajkumar Singh, director of AIIMS Rishikesh, presided over the function. Addressing the function in Pathankot, Punjab, Vice Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh Central University Dr Kuldeep Chandra Agnihotri stressed the need to keep the ownership of the media in the hands of Indians in the era of growing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Dr Agnihotri also addressed the functions in Pathankot, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Sangroor. Noted Hindi writer Dr Harmohinder Singh Bedi also addressed the gathering in Amritstar. Dr Neeraj Kamra presided over the function. RSS Prant Sanghachalak Shri Jagdish Gaganeja addressed the function in Ludhiana. The function in Sangroor was presided over by Shri Ram Avatar.
The function in Gwalior was organised jointly by the VSK and Press Club. Shri Pramod Bhardwaj, editor of daily Agniban and Organiser editor Shri Prafulla Ketkar addressed the gathering. Addressing the function in Ratlam, Shri Prafulla Ketkar said there is no threat to print media until it continues to preserve its credibility. He stressed the need to carry forward the tradition of Narad and keep the national interest supreme. Shri Ketkar also addressed the function in Faridabad where the function was jointly organised by VSK and City Press Club. He said entertainment and commercialisation in news are dangerous for healthy journalism. Shri Ashok Sharma, Municipal Commissioner, spoke about the challenges that the mediaperons face in news gathering. Shri Bijendra Bansal, president of City Press Club, presided over the function.
