Vartalap aims to make the Journalists aware about government schemes: B Narayanan,Director General, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : Journalists need to be digitally skilled in the present scenario, said Dilip Saikia, Member of Parliament, Mangaldoi while addressing the press in a Regional media workshop ‘Vartalap’ organized by Press Information Bureau, Guwahati in Nalbari in collaboration with District Administration, Nalbari today. He appreciated the effort of Press Information Bureau, Guwahati, for organising such media workshop in the district. He urged the participating journalists to play a positive role in highlighting major government schemes. Government is taking initiatives to help common people through various schemes and the important part is to make the people aware about the benefits of the schemes, he said. He urged the journalists to spread positive messages about those schemes and help the Government to make those initiatives a success.
Addressing the gathering B Narayanan, Director General, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting said that Vartalap provides a platform to interact with journalists about government policies and programmes, so that they can disseminate information about these policies, programmes and schemes to the masses. He highlighted how the Government initiatives are implemented by the government departments and how media should play the role of disseminating the right information to the public. Gracing the occasion, Shri Jayanta Kumar Goswami, CEO, Zilla Parishad Nalbari appreciated PIB Guwahati, for organising the media workshop. He further added that the prime aim should be to make the laymen aware of such programmes so that they can avail benefit of the schemes.
As part of the Vartalap programme a panel discussion was also held today.Participating in a Panel discussion on New Tools of Journalism, Shri Naresh Kalita, Editor of Assamese Daily Niyomiya Barta said that journalist must have the sense of correct news. Shri Kalita also added that journalists should work for the welfare of the society and disseminate accurate, non biased information to every citizen. Speaking in the panel discussion Shri Ankur Lahoty, RNU head, Doordarshan said that journalist must use social media wisely. He further added that it is the responsibility of the journalist that authentic information should reach the masses. The Panel discussion was moderated by Smt. Smita Saikia, Media and Communication Officer, PIB Guwahati. Smt. Pavni Gupta, Deputy Director, PIB Guwahati briefed the participants about the publicity activities undertaken by PIB Guwahati. She also urged the journalists to inform the people about programmes and policies of the government at the grassroot level. Special technical sessions about various schemes implemented in the district of Nalbari were discussed in the Vartalap. Dr. Subhash Chandra Sarma, Joint Director, Health spoke extensively on Ayushman Bharat bringing transformation in the health scenario of Nalbari.
Shri Troilokya Saloi, Fisheries Officer Nalbari spoke on Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana. Likewise Shri Simanta Deka, DEEO, Nalbari spoke on Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya and Shri Habibul Haque, Agriculture Expert from Nalbari spoke on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana . Smt. Barnali Mahanta, Field Publicity Officer, Central Bureau of Communication, Guwahati in her welcome address highlighted the objectives of the workshop. Smt. Sucharita Sahoo, Field Publicity Officer, PIB Guwahati gave the vote of thanks. Today’s workshop was aimed to act as interface between PIB and the journalists working at district and sub-district levels. The workshop is part of the Governments media outreach strategy with the aim of establishing direct contact with working journalists. More than 60 working journalists across the Nalbari district participated in the one-day event.
