· MoS Pratima Bhoumik was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the national chapter of Indian Media Congress.
· She appealed to the journalists to take the development work done by the Modi government to the people.
The two-day inaugural ceremony of the ‘national chapter’ of Indian Media Congress (IMC) has been concluded with an appeal to the government to listen to the demands raised by journalists and to resolve the problems faced by small and medium newspapers and media houses across the country. The inaugural ceremony of the launch of the national chapter of Indian Media Congress was graced by Pratima Bhoumik, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, as the chief guest. The event was also attended by Dr Sambit Patra, BJP National Spokesperson and Chairman of ITDC, as the guest of honour and Vipin Gaur, secretary general, Newspaper Association of India.
Minister Bhoumik, addressing the gathering at the event held at Constitution Club, urged the journalists to champion the cause of the common man and highlight the welfare schemes of the Modi government. Envisioning India as the world’s most prosperous country by 2047, she said that it’s your government and you should take the welfare schemes to people.
“I believe India would become the world’s most developed nation by 2047,” Bhoumik said.
While recognising the issues faced by journalists in various parts of the country, she added that the government is always with the journalists and open to listen to their demands. She also said that the journalists, like the professionals in other fields, should also get their due and appealed to them to actively contribute to the nation’s progress.
Dr Sambit Patra said that ‘neutrality’ is a myth and journalists should always remain with the ‘truth and dharma’. He said that the journalists should highlight the developmental work done by the government and give the credit where it’s due.
An official logo, specially designed by Indian Media Congress for journalists, was unveiled at the ceremony. Highlighting the vision behind a logo for journalists Rajanikant Samantaray, Vice-Chairman of IMC, said, “IMC has been working with all the journalist associations and media organisations across the country to resolve the issues faced by the fraternity. Like all other professionals have a logo of their own, why should not the journalists have a logo representing their profession. We have inaugurated the logo at the launch of the national chapter of IMC and appeal to all journalists to adopt it.”
At the inaugural ceremony many journalists and social activists were also honoured for their contribution to the profession and society.
The two-day event was held on December 23-24 at Constitution Club and Press Club of India. A seminar on ‘Media and Democracy’ was held at the Press Club of India on the second day of the event.
Senior journalists, media activists and representatives of different journalists’ associations attended the seminar. The senior journalists highlighted the issues faced by small and medium newspapers and how it has become difficult for them to survive in the highly competitive world of media presently.
The two-day event was also attended by Indian Media Congress President Sanjay Das, Maharashtra convenor Aditya Mudgal, Punjab convenor Bariyam Mast and other members of the organisation from different state chapters.
Indian Media Congress, a professional body of journalists founded in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, has been working to resolve the issues faced by journalists and media associations. IMC aims to spread its operations across India with the launch of the national chapter.