Day-long national seminar by Media Scan at IIMC exposes various myths related to the Indian media
Pramod Kumar
New Delhi: “Maoists in Bastar are now merely criminal gangs indulging in extortion. According to IB reports, about Rs 1,100 crore are annually extorted from the people of Bastar alone and the amount is not spent for the betterment of the Vanvasis who take up arms for them, but to the Maoists’ urban networks, NGOs, so-called human rightists and the group of academicians, who act as their agents in cities,” said Bastar top cop SRP Kalluri, while addressing a national seminar on May 20. The seminar was organised at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) by Media Scan.
When Shri Kalluri entered the hall, he was greeted with the skyrocketing slogans of Vandemataram. He said the Maoists cannot show even a single family in Bastar which was uplifted by them with the money they extort from the people. “This money is basically spent for those who generate ‘perception’ against the security forces fighting against the Maoists and the Naxals. A handful of Bastar people have defamed 40 lakh people of the region, which is today known for wrong reasons like the JNU. Dr Buddha Singh from JNU highlighted how the left leaning academicians and students in JNU?try to cover up the criminal activities. Protector of Ranchi University Dr Diwakar Minz discussed how he is trying to raise self-respect among the local Vanvasis.
At the inaugural session Shri Ashok Bhagat of Vikas Bharati Bishunpur said the people sitting in Delhi do not understand the difference between the ‘Adivasis’ and the Naxals, who are used as synonym. Shri Ashish Gautam from Divya Prem Sewa Mission, Haridwar, shared his experience of organising a yajna at the Alfraid Park of Allahabad to pay tribute to Chandrasekhar Azad. That yajna too was opposed by the Leftists as was done in the IIMC now. Vice Chancellor of Delhi Technical University Dr Yogesh Singh raised serious questions over the present education system. “When a student follows the system, then who is responsible if his education is not useful for the country,” he asked.
IIMC Director General Shri KG Suresh raised questions over the fundamental problems in the media. “A journalist is told to be negative. One has no other option but to be negative in the present system. This is the root cause of various ills in the media,” he added. Editor of Financial Chronicle Shri KA Badrinath, Dr Arun Bhagat from Makhanlal Chaturvedi Journalism University, Information Commissioner of Haryana Government Shri Bhupendra Dharmani and Information Officer in Delhi Government Shri Nalin Chauhan discussed the government services related to journalism. Shri Atul Krishna Bhardwaj spoke on the ideals of Narad.
The session on Jammu & Kashmir was very enlightening. Shri Arun Kumar, director of Jammu Kashmir Study Centre, while referring to ‘Kashmiriat; said we should look at the affairs of the State keeping this word aside. “We follow the same values from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kutch to Kamrup. J&K is no different from the entire country,” he added. Shri Jawaharlal Kaul said all the newspapers or news channels are forced to show the same news in J&K. They have no option for investigative journalism due to pressure from the separatists. Col (retd) Jaibans Singh said the media is also responsible for spoiling the affairs in the State. He said once there used to be hardly 17-18 newspapers in J&K, but now about 800 newspapers are published from there. “DAVP does not issue them advertisement. State government also issues very limited advertisements. Then how do all they
survive and who funds them?” he asked.
The last session was dedicated to rewriting of history. Shri Atul Kothari of Shiksha Sanskrit Utthan Nyas, Shri Anand Vardhan from Delhi Institute for Heritage Management,
Dr Pramod Dube from NCERT and historian Kusumlata Kedia shared their views. n
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