Describing connectivity and communication as gateway to development, Minister of State for Transport and Rural Development Sunil Kumar Sharma today said that road connectivity and communication play a vital role in improving the socio-economic condition of the people living in rural areas.“This programme on Rural Communication will update and sensitize the concerned faculty members towards rural issues and train them to further spread the knowledge in effective and interesting manner to the students by using theoretical as well as practical methods”, the Minister maintained.The Minister said this during the inaugural function of weeklong Faculty Development Programme on Rural Reporting organized by Department of Mass Communication and New Media, Central University of Jammu sponsored by National Council of Rural Institutes (NCRI, Hyderabad) in collaboration with National Service Scheme.Vice Chancellor, Central University of Jammu Prof. Ashok Aima was also present on the occasion.The Minister lauded the efforts of the organizers for holding the programme focusing on rural areas of the state.Vice Chancellor of CUJ, in his address, said the programme marks an important milestone in the roadmap towards establishing rural community as a very important stream of the communication discourse.
He said the programme will provide class room training, theoretical background and working sessions to implement them throughout the programme, besides providing an opportunity to the delegates to refine their approach and skills of teaching such course.Director Information and Public Relations, Muneer-ul-Islam was also present on the occasion.The Programme would continue from February 23 to March 1, 2018 in which faculty members from different university across the country would participate.The representative from NCRI, Hyderabad S.N Das informed that the programme would provide a forum for presentation and discussion on issues and challenges related to rural communication, disseminating information about health and education programmes, building public opinion and persuading and circulation government policies among other subjects. He said that besides, lecturers on various aspects of rural communication by eminent resource persons in the field, the programme included case study, discussion sessions, short film screening and field work using PRA techniques.On the occasion, NCER also presented scholarship to a student of Economics Department CUJ, Waseem Hassan Khan.Head of the Department of Mass Communication and New Media Prof Govind Singh besides faculty members from various universities were present on the occasion.