Fellowship knits close association of media with development administration: Zulfkar
STATE TIMES NEWS
RAJOURI: In a ceremony organised by the District Information Center Rajouri in collaboration with district administration the Minister for Information and Public Relations Zulfkar Ali today handed over the fellowship letter to STATE TIMES scribe Akhil Mahajan and 14 other working journalists. Akhil Mahajan is alloted to study the Community Development sector of District Administration.
The DDC Dr. Shahid Iqbal while apprising the minister about components of the fellowship said the selected fellows were allotted specific sectors such as health, rural development, education, disaster management, relief and rehabilitation, tourism, public service delivery, Right to Information Act, rural sanitation and social welfare and community development. He said that the fellows will do an in-depth study about implementation of various schemes and programmes in the allotted sectors and submit a detailed report on impact of these schemes on the ground, public perception about government schemes and policies, structural and institutional loopholes in implementation of these schemes besides suggesting measures for improvement.
“Each fellow will be given a fellowship grant and logistics for their field visits,” said Dr. Shahid adding the fellows will be submitting their final report by ending March, 2018.
The DDC further informed that district administration is also coming up with press club with provisions of library, reading room, conference hall, internet facilities and badminton court. The press club, a long pending demand of media persons of the district will be registered as society and it will be a one stop center for all media related activities. The minister while speaking on the occasion congratulated the selected fellows and encouraged them to work dedicatedly for successful completion of the fellowship as it will go a long way in shaping the career of journalists besides knitting a close association of media persons with the development administration. He termed the fellowship as milestone for greater participation of journalist in a larger democracy. Zulfkar also appreciated the journalists of Rajouri for their unbiased and positive journalism. He called upon them to carry legitimate and well-researched news items for projecting the issues of public interest instead of sensationalism, scandal-mongering, and exaggeration of news events. The minister expressed satisfaction over the proper use of social media by the journalists in the district. The minister while lauding the district administration for its initiative such as press club and media fellowship directed to identify land for setting up of press colony in the district. The journalists including Sumit Bhargav, Arif Qureshi, Emroz Suri, Imran Khan, Shakti Paul Sharma, Tazeem Malik, Sahil Sharma, Umer Arshad, Muneer Khan, Gagan Kohli, Avinash Jasyal, Jamsheed Malik, Madhur Gupta and Sushil Dutta were handover the letter for ‘Fellowship in Development Administration’. Present on the occasion were SSP Yougal Manhas, ACR Abdul Qayoom Mir, CPO Abdul Hamid, DSWO Abdul Khabir and Tehsildar Salam Din.
