At present, media is undergoing transition from print to social media. The Media is highlighting success stories as well as lacunae in successful implementation of schemes by the central and state governments. District Collector, Washim Shanmugaragan S. urged that the media, which is the fourth pillar of democracy, should follow the ethics and create a ‘check and balance’ system in relation to such schemes.

Shanmugarajan S, Vasumana Pant, Chief Executive Officer, Washim Zilla Parishad, inaugurated the day long media conference on ‘Seva, Good Governance and Poor Welfare’ organized by the Press Information Office, Mumbai, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, at Washim today, June 15.

Deputy Director of Press Information Bureau, Mumbai Jayadevi Pujari-Swami, Washim District Information Officer Vivek Khadse, and Media and Communication Officer, Press Information Bureau, Nagpur Dhananjay Wankhede were present on the occasion. 

In the inaugural speech, Collector Shanmugarajan said that the media has always made great contribution in conveying the information about various initiatives of the government like white revolution, green revolution to the common people. He said that the extent to which the government schemes have reached the people, the extent to which they are benefiting and the genuine feedback we get from the journalists about the usefulness of these schemes helps us to determine the direction of our work. He also said that the fourth pillar of democracy gives us an opportunity to rectify the delays and deficiencies in the government’s plans.

Addressing the audience on the occasion, Washim Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officer Vasumana Pant said that the implementation of the government schemes and the success of those schemes should be conveyed to the people in a proper manner. The media should convey the information about the good schemes being implemented in rural as well as urban areas and the changes in the living conditions of the citizens due to these schemes without underlining the errors that often remain in the implementation of the schemes. She said that the ‘Vartalaap’ program organized today by the Press Information Bureau at Washim is very important in this regard. She informed that during the day long program, seminars have been organized on many important topics like the schemes implemented for the aspirational districts and the schemes implemented by the government for the journalist in media sector.

Inaugurating the session, Jayadevi Pujari-Swami, Deputy Director, Press Information Bureau, Mumbai, thanked the dignitaries and media representatives for attending the event and said that information about various schemes, activities and developments of the government has been disseminated to various newspapers and media organizations in English, Hindi and Marathi languages, by Press Information Bureau. Apart from this, the office also organizes seminars on various topics from time to time to reach out to the citizens living in remote areas and to take the policies of the government to the people. Jayadevi Pujari-Swami said that through three offices in the state, the PIB is trying to reach out to all journalists, including those from rural areas of the state, and today’s ‘Vartalap’ program is one such initiative. In a sense, such a conference is a medium to create a link between the government and the media in rural areas, because there are many ways available to journalists in urban areas to get such information, but it is the responsibility of the PIB to provide positive and reliable information to journalists in rural areas by organizing such events, she said.

Several lectures were organized after inaugural session. The session began with lecture by Washim District Information Officer Vivek Khadse. He said that in order to increase the irrigation capacity of rainfed agriculture in Washim district, various programs like water conservation scheme, ground water recharge scheme, ‘silt-free dam and silt-rich farm’ are being implemented by the  state  government. Efforts are being made to increase the water resources in the district through aspirational district activities as well as Jal Shakti Abhiyan. Khadse also informed that schemes such as Tuberculosis Free District, Mudra Yojana, Janani Suraksha Yojana, giving information to farmers about new technologies are being implemented by the Central Government.

Washim District Planning Officer (Human Resource Development) R. G. Sonkhaskar gave a presentation on the topic ‘Role of Media in Aspirational District Development Programme’. He said 115 districts in 28 states across the country have been declared as aspirational, including Washim district of the state. The model school set up by NITI Aayog at Sakhra, the ISO certification of six Anganwadis in the district is the result of NITI Aayog’s work. He expressed hope that the media should also report on this. He informed that the commission has provided facilities such as ambulance for tuberculosis patients, foetal Doppler for pregnant women and seed dressing drums for farmers.

Smt.Anisa Mahabale, District Superintendent Agriculture Officer, Washim, gave a presentation on ‘Capacity  Building  for  agriculture and agriculture related activities under Aspirational Districts Initiative’. On this occasion, she appealed the farmers to use the seed dressing drums made available by NITI Aayog to produce soybean seeds. She said that tur is now being produced in Washim district and tur dal process has been boosted and the area under cultivation of wheat and gram is increasing and processes like cleaning and grading have started. She informed that the detail information about  the Pradhan Mantri Micro Food Processing Industry Scheme  is available online. She said that the farmers can avail these schemes on the basis of only 4 documents. She also explanined that, Farmers, FPOs availing these schemes   are trained through the  Krishi Vigyan Kendras( KVK)  and  starting capital  is also provided.

After the lecture session, Deputy Director Jayadevi Swami Pujari gave a presentation on ‘Role of PIB to provide better services to citizens through rural media in development dialogue’. Later the beneficiaries of PM-Swanidhi, Pradhan Mantri Micro Food Processing Industry Yojana interacted with the attendees.

Smt, Vimal Rajguru, director of the Tripti Papad Industry from Lakhala, Washim, told  how she was benefited by the Pradhan Mantri micro food processing industry scheme. She has given employment to 30 women so far and expressed her intention to give employment to 100 women in future.

Sheikh Harun, a beneficiary of  a Pakka House in Hakim Ali Nagar, Washim, said that he had received financial assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

After this, the media representatives gave their feedback on the workshop. Prof. Gajajan Wagh coordinated the workshop. The workshop was attended by a large number of journalists from Washim district and taluka.

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DW/RA/PK

 

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