Press Information Bureau (PIB), Srinagar today organized a Media Workshop “Vartalap” at district Ganderbal aimed at building a direct interface between PIB and the journalists working at district and sub-district levels.
The workshop, organized at the Mini Secretariat Ganderbal in collaboration with district administration Ganderbal and Information Centre Ganderbal was inaugurated jointly by Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal, Shyambir and Additional Director General, PIB, Northern Region, Rajinder Chaudhry.
In his inaugural address, the DC Ganderbal appreciated the efforts of PIB Srinagar for organizing the media workshop which he termed as the best platform for dialogue between media and government.
He also presented the development scenario of district Ganderbal and informed the gathering about the progress made under various Central Government schemes and initiatives in the district.
While speaking on the occasion, Chaudhry said that the purpose behind organizing the workshop is to reach out to the local media to highlight different initiatives of the Central Government for the benefit of the common people.
He added that media acts as eyes and ears of the government and such coordination is essential to attain feedback and also address the concerns regarding implementation of schemes at the ground level.
Chaudhry said that the media at the district and sub-district levels must use PIB backgrounders containing valuable information for development stories with infographics and factsheets that must be brought to the public notice for information and feedback.
He further emphasized that media should follow and use PIB Fact-check to counter false information and rumours that sometimes spread rapidly on different social media thereby creating confusion among the people.
Chaudhry gave a detailed presentation about various media activities carried by Press Information Bureau, J&K and other media units of the Ministry. He also gave an overview of Central Government initiatives like Ek Bharat Shreshtra Bharat, Azadi Quest and others.
Chief Medical Officer, Ganderbal Dr. Afroza Shah, spoke about the Ayushman Bharat Scheme and progress made in distribution of Golden Cards among the population of the district.
She informed the gathering that Golden Cards have been distributed among 100 percent population in Ganderbal and people are benefitting greatly since the implementation of the scheme.
She also said that ABHA cards are proving to be a game changer in the field of maintaining health records of patients. She requested the media persons to propagate the message among the citizens so that they can become aware about the facilities offered and take maximum benefit from the schemes available to them.
Principal Government Boys Higher Secondary School, Kulan talked about the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in district Ganderbal.
She said that the policy is being implemented in letter and spirit and every effort is being made to make sure that the student community can reap the benefits of NEP.
She added that teachers are continuously being trained at various levels to enhance their skills to meet the requirements of NEP. She added that the Education Department is making every effort to maximize enrolment of students keeping in view the difficult geographical terrain in some regions of the district.
Assistant Commissioner Development Ganderbal, Dr Bashir Ahmad talked in detail about the various schemes of the Rural Development Department (RDD) in operation in the district.
He said that RDD has a presence across the district and there is probably no sector in which RDD is not involved. He urged the media fraternity to play a constructive role in making citizens aware about their rights and duties as participation of people is imperative to make any scheme a success.
Deputy Director (Media and Communication), PIB Srinagar Tariq Ahmad Rather in his concluding remarks emphasized on the importance of “Vartalap” which is a platform for journalists working at district level to gain some insights about their role in development journalism and responsible reporting.
The technical sessions were followed by interactive question-answer sessions in which journalists talked to the experts and cleared their doubts regarding various schemes and programmes.
The journalists also thanked PIB for organizing the workshop and expressed hope that more such workshops will be conducted in future.