Sikkim: PIB organises one day 'Media Workshop-Vartalap' in Gangtok

Press Information Bureau (PIB), Gangtok on July 18 a daylong media workshop -vartalap for journalists of Sikkim with the theme ‘9 years of Seva, Sushasan and Garib Kalyan’. 

The event was aimed at creating awareness among media persons about various welfare schemes, initiatives and projects undertaken by the Government of India during the last 9 years.

Sikkim Commission for Backward Classes (SCBC), Chairperson, Ms Pabitra Bhandari was the chief guest for the programme at Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Deorali here. It was attended by the Additional Director General (ADG), North East Zone, PIB, General Manager NABARD, Senior Director/ State Informatics Officer National Informatics Centre(NIC), Sikkim, Professor, Department of Commerce, Sikkim University, President, Press Club of Sikkim, President, Journalist Union of Sikkim, and editors, journalists, reporters from various media houses across Sikkim and a large number of media persons from various parts of Sikkim.

Speaking at the inaugural session, the Chairperson, of SCBC, Bhandari appreciated the initiative taken by PIB Gangtok for sensitizing the local media fraternity about the various achievements and public welfare initiatives taken by the Government of India during the last nine years. 

She urged the PIB to hold such outreach programmes in locations outside the Gangtok so that the villagers, especially the farmers, are made aware of those Central schemes that are intended to benefit them. 

''It is important that those Central schemes related to the agriculture sector are shared with the farmers in the rural areas,'' said Bhandari. 

She further urged the digital media houses of Sikkim to connect with PIB Gangtok for information on various central welfare schemes for the public. 

At the workshop,  Additional Director General,  PIB, North East Zone, Ms  Jane Namchu spoke on the topic ‘Mainstream media and regional media’. She expressed that media houses pursue and disseminate news as per the preferences and language of their target audience. 

She also spoke on the growth of online digital news in consonance with the digital transformation that happened in India in these nine years. 

''The Government of India has done tremendous work on digital transformation and has changed it into an opportunity for all the people, and it is up to us how to harness the digital transformation,'' Namchu added.
 
Dr. LP Sharma, Senior Director (IT) & State Informatics Officer, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Sikkim spoke on the ‘Digital transformation – India marching ahead’. 

''The gathering that digital transformation is evidently clear among the people who are increasingly using online mode for payment, registration and other services,'' he added.
 
Dr. Sharma also highlighted the services and tasks performed by the NIC Sikkim, especially during the Covid pandemic where the centre ensured connectivity among the people and government agencies through virtual conferences, zoom meetings and online classes. 

While speaking on  ‘Women journalists in media’, Nita Nirash, a Senior journalist said, women in journalism were not taken seriously earlier. 

''The first Indian woman journalist, Homi Vyasawalla took to photo journalism but had to get her work published in her husband’s name in the Illustrated weekly. However,  through the years we have seen changes. Now the women journalists are taking to  print, electronic and digital media with great confidence,'' she added.      

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