Media ignoring social changes in villages: Gujral

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, OCT. 2. Six journalists, including the principal correspondent at the Kochi office of The Hindu, Mr. K.P.M. Basheer, were awarded the Sarojini Naidu Award here today for maintaining ``high standards of journalism set by Mahatma Gandhi.''

Conferring the award instituted by the Hunger Project, the former Prime Minister, Mr. I.K. Gujral, said the spurt in information technology while having transformed the media industry, has not acted as catalyst to bridge the gap between urban and rural India.

Praising the awardees, Mr. Gujral said it was time that journalists focussed on the social revolution in the countryside. The transformation brought about in the villages from policies such as 33 per cent reservation for women under the Panchayati Raj have gone ``unreported'' by most of the media. The director of the Hunger Project, Ms. Rita Sarin, drew attention to the ``successful'' functioning of panchayats.

The others who received the award were, Mr. Yogesh Vajpayee, Mr. Soumen Datta, Ms. K.R. Mangala, Mr. Rajendra Bandhu, and Ms. Vasavi.

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Section  : National
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