Waging a Srinagar lives lonely battle upto dirty MERC film bags for life 2 citytag 4 top honours 6

Vol: 4 | No.: 1 | April 30, 2011 Lab newspaper of Media Education Research Centre for private circulation only

5-day workshop held at MERC Media students Lead trainer Aloke Thakore conducts a session with MERC students.

explore Ibrahim Wani workshop. He thanked Panos and the resource persons for sensitizing students five-day workshop on reporting about urban affairs and providing them issues related to urbainzation and necessary research and news writing urban Adiversity using new media was skills. He appreciated efforts of students held at Media Education Research Cen- for coming up with good stories on vari- tre (MERC) Kashmir University from ous themes related to urbanization. April 19 to 23. Dr Shahid urged the students to ben- reporting The workshop, organised by Panos efit from the experiences of the work- South Asia in collaboration with the Uni- shop. He said the department will be versity of Kashmir, aimed at strengthen- organising more such workshops for the ing skills of MERC students to cover is- students in future. sues on urban poverty and diversity. The Project Director, Panos South Asia, skills Dr Harpreet Kaur said the workshop is workshop covered areas like journalism ethics, principles and techniques of re- part of the larger project implemented porting social affairs, dealing with offi- by Panos South Asia and financially sup- cial and non-official sources of informa- ported by the Ford Foundation. tion, editorial dilemmas, writing skills, “The project aims at influencing interviewing techniques and investiga- mainstream media to initiate urbaniza- tive reporting. tion dialogue particularly in Jammu and The trainings were led by experi- Srinagar cities. The project also focuses enced media professionals including on training young media professionals Sanjeev Srivastava, ex Affairs edi- so that they are better sensitised and tor, BBC Service and Dr Aloke Tha- equipped to cover social issues,” she said. kore, media analyst and co-founder of The course covered areas like journal- Journalism Mentor Foundation. As part ism ethics, responsible reporting of issues of the workshop, the students produced relating to social affairs, principles and media products for print, radio and tele- techniques of reporting social affairs, deal- vision which were reviewed in the con- ing with official and non-official sources of cluding session of the programme. information, editorial dilemmas, writing Head, MERC, Dr Shahid Rasool ex- skills, interviewing techniques and inves- pressed satisfaction over the conduct of tigative social reporting. MERCTIMES 2 Waging a Hospital lonely battle for life waste management fritters away Firdoose Ul Islam

our dustbins – Red, Yellow, Blue and Black - are lined inside Ward 113 at Srinagar’s premier maternity Lal Ded hospital. A Fposter above them gives guidelines for the segregation of differ- Feroz Bhat when Mukhti says, “Shehre meh batih (serve the ent forms of hospital waste. The guidelines are being followed strictly meals)”. After lunch, she completes other house- but only by the patients and their attendants. Once outside, this hospi- itting on a traditional mat ‘wagu’ Taja Be- hold chores and resumes her work. tal wastage is dumped together. Reason: the incinerator at the hospital gum, 65, spins Pashmina while chatting Taja had five children- three daughters and is dysfunctional. Swith her sister-in-law, Mukhti Begum about two sons. One of her daughters and a son are dead. “We are trying to maintain the standards of hygiene in this hospi- their household affairs. Financial condition of her other son is weak. “He tal,” says Deputy Medical Superintendent, Lal Ded Hospital, Dr Nazir “We don’t have enough food material stocked for too has five children. He fetches boulders from Ahmad Chaudary. “But we don’t have a proper biological treatment this month,” says anxious-looking Taja, while the nearby stream earning Rs 200 to 300 per day, plant in Srinagar where this biological and other waste material could be sharing her concerns with Mukhti. which is insufficient to meet the household ex- disinfected. We have incinerator plant here, but that is not functioning”. Taja has a two-storey house with only three rooms penses. How can he afford two more,” says Taja. The Supreme Court guidelines make it mandatory for every hospi- in Wangund locality of Telbal area. The upper sto- “I don’t want to be a burden on him.” tal and healthcare centre to have four colour-coded dustbins to collect rey is filled with scraps and other thrown-away Seeing the condition of women, neighbours different kind of waste for proper disposal. Yellow for biological solid material. In the ground storey, there is one room suggested them to apply for funds meant for poor waste material, Red for plastic material, Blue for surgical material and divided by wooden blocks- the front part serves as and downtrodden. Taja went to officials at Social Black for food, paper and other common waste. a bedroom and the rear part functions as a bath- Welfare Department. “They always told me that Though the colour-coded dustbins have been placed in the hospi- room and kitchen. they are short of funds,” she says, adding that once tal but the wastage is not disposed off as per the guidelines. “We have Taja shares the house with Mukhti, who is in she had to sit for five long hours outside the office. a contract with a private agency ‘Kashmir health care,” said the Deputy her 90s. Since her divorce, about 50 years back, When contacted, Director Social Welfare, Medical Superintendent. “Their workers collect the waste material from Mukhti is being looked after by Taja. Hilal Ahmad Parray said, “If somebody will not our hospital, but we have no knowledge as to how they dispose or burn it.” Taja lost her husband eight years back. He approach us how can we serve them. Since it has The health experts warn that improper disposal of the hospital was an artisan. Now there is nobody to support now come to my notice I will send somebody there waste can lead to serious health problems for the people. And the Lal Ded them. But she has not stopped living. She survives who will inspect their condition. It is our duty to hospital – Valley’s lone secondary-care maternity hospital – produces a every hardship by her will and determination. help the needy.” huge amount of bio-medical waste every day. “Around 100 surgeries are Spinning is her lone source of income. On an aver- Villagers too are willing to lend a helping being done every day in our hospital,” says Dr Razia Sultan. “We produce age she earns Rs 40 to 50 per day. hand to Taja. “They have approached the con- tons of biological waste material, which contains highly infectious chemicals. Taja starts her day on spinning wheel early cerned authorities on my behalf. They are good If this waste is not decomposed properly, it can be dangerous for people”. morning and continues till noon. She stops only neighbours,” says Taja. Achen: Inside City’s largest garbage dump

Muhammad Rafi Dar feed, says he cannot afford to leave the job While the dumping site is a concern for the people re- six-foot wall separates a residential neighborhood siding in the area, it is a treasure trove for the non-Kash- from the city’s largest garbage dump - Achen. On a miri scavengers. More than a dozen scavengers – men, Alarge swathe of land, heaps of garbage, dumped in women and children – sift through the waste every day to open, is a major health scare for the local residents. earn a livelihood. More than 300 tonnes of garbage are deposited ev- As each truck comes in, these scavengers jostle to eryday at Achen garbage dumping site, spread over 700 search for plastic items in the new heap of garbage. kanals, on the fringes of Srinagar city. Step inside and With a slim frame and dirty hands, 15-year-old Mu- you will crave for fresh air. Every few minutes, a vehicle of hammad Sujjan tells a story of hunger and poverty. Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) enters inside and He has been collecting plastic items and cardboard dumps the waste in open. It is left without any chemical boxes from the garbage daily for the past ten years. “Being treatment. eldest among my siblings, the responsibility of the entire “We approached authorities many times to get rid family fell on my shoulders.” of this menace but in vain,” says Abdul Rehman Mir of Nazir Ahmad Sheikh has been working as a daily “I am earning Rs 50-60 everyday. I would not like Achen. wager in SMC for the past three years. With no protective that my siblings do this kind of work. I want to admit them The dumping site, he says, is serving as a breeding gear, the work has taken toll on his health. in school so that they can study,” says Sujjan. ground for many communicable diseases. “We are working here continuously without shifts as While Achen poses health concerns to local popu- In fact, the government has failed to provide any pro- authorities are not allowing shifts,” he says. lace, for people like Nazir and Sujan, the place serves as a tective gear to its employees working at Achen. Sheikh, who earns Rs 2100 and has four children to means of livelihood. 3 MERCTIMES

Black Carbon Cloud Looms Large

Mir Iqbal melting snow pack and glaciers is more Kashmir are unreliable,” according to carbon emission. Making public trans- than that of Carbon Dioxide. Warmer officials of Pollution Control Board, port a more comfortable, alternative he climate of Kashmir is facing air resulting from the presence of black “since the issuers accept money for pro- to private cars could be another step. new threat-Black carbon. Pro- carbon contributes to an increase of viding fake certificates.” Terming the reduction of black car- Tduced through diesel combus- approximately 0.6 °C in the tempera- According to experts, switching bon, a 'low-hanging fruit,' experts say it tion and biomass burning, this form ture. over to fuels such as compressed natu- should be plucked immediately to buy of carbon is now being recognized as a A report by the inter-governmen- ral gas rather than diesel and petrol time when the world is driving fast to- major contributor to climate change by tal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) can help significantly cut down black ward a cliff in terms of climate change. environmentalists. 2008 reveals the presence of black Moreover, experts say the com- carbon over highly reflective surfaces, placency on part of the government is such as snow and ice, or clouds, may a major concern as “various sources of cause a significant positive irradiative black carbon emission loom large.” force. Brick kilns: Adding fuel In Kashmir, vehicles plying on the “Temperature trends on the Ti- roads, brick kilns, cement factories or betan side of the Himalayas reveals the lime quarries constantly pump black warming in excess of 1 °C. This large to the fire carbon, formed through the incomplete warming trend is the proposed causal esides vehicles, brick kilns the affected areas say “such orders combustion of fossil fuels, and other factor for the accelerating retreat of are among the major emitters never lead to action.” harmful pollutants, into the air. Himalayan glaciers, which threatens Bof black carbon. A recent sur- Facts and Figures “Black carbon is a major contribu- fresh water supplies and food security vey by the Pollution Control Board In district Budgam, 102 brick tor to climate change across the world,” in China and India.” found 374 kilns operative among kilns were ordered to stop oper- says Prof Shakeel Ahmed Ramshoo, Increasing vehicles which only 59 are running under ating but only 15 were closed. In who teaches Geology at Kashmir Uni- Pollution from vehicles is the pri- proper government authorization. Pulwama, out of 58, closure orders versity. mary source of black carbon. Statistics The survey also revealed that have been issued for 19; in Kulgam, “The chemical property of black from Regional Transport Authority there are 204 stone crushers, of 31 kilns were ordered to be closed carbon is such that it stays in the atmo- Kashmir show the number of vehicles which only 83 are government au- out of 38. sphere for only a short time. However, registered as on March 28, 2011 are 3, thorized. Effect it is capable of causing rapid environ- 15,273 that include both commercial Closure orders ignored Conservative estimates say that mental damage in the short period of and non-commercial vehicles. Pollution Control Board or- an average kiln burns 20 tons of fuel time,” he adds. Pollution norms not followed dered closure/suspension of brick a year, meaning together they all Giving its tendency to cause in- According to the State Pollution kilns but the orders were not im- burn around 6,000 tons of fuel. In stant damage, black carbon emissions Control Board, more than 55 per cent plemented on the ground. The au- addition lowest quality coal and rub- pose a danger to Kashmir glaciers. Pe- of Kashmir's vehicles do not conform to thorities say “we are not issuing ber tyres are being burnt in kilns to rennial floods in the catchment areas pollution norms. any new licenses”. The people of save fuel costs. of Himalayas, including Kashmir. In “The certificates issued by vari- addition, the impact of black carbon on ous pollution checking centres across MERCTIMES 4 Srinagar lives upto dirty city tag Rakib Altaf Abdul Rasheed, a resident of Nowpora. sales. The shed is cleaned A year has passed since Srinagar on daily basis but in late very morning, Abdul Aziz was named as the fourth dirtiest city of hours when the shops knocks at each door in the Now- India in a report of Union Urban Devel- have already opened. Epora neighbourhood of down- opment Ministry. The report evoked a “Even today, I my- town Srinagar. His job is to collect sharp reaction from the people and the self cleaned the front garbage. Aziz is not a municipal worker government alike with Chief Minister, path of my shop. You but a private sweeper hired by the resi- Omar Abdullah vowing to remove this tell me what else dents- each household pays him 50 ru- ‘stain’. But people like Rasheed believe can I do?” says pees a month. the government has not succeeded. Majid Je- “It was urgent. We had to do some- “Honestly we could not wait for the hangir. thing to keep our houses clean,” says government anymore to clean our

The Union Urban Ministry report They (R&B) said it was not their job. was more embarrassing to the state as What else could we do?” he adds. area,” he the tourist season had just begun then. Last year the government had also says. But drivers at a taxi stand situated next planned to launch awareness cam- Outside the to the garbage shed at Poloview say paigns in schools and colleges by rop- homes, however, they haven’t had many customers this ing in Non-Governmental Organisa- little has changed. Nar- year either. It is not the foul smell they tions (NGOs) for help. But with turmoil row alleys still have open blame, but the stray dogs lured by the in the valley, which lasted for months, drains with human waste unattended waste. no such campaigns could be organised. flowing in them while the “Yesterday two tourists were walk- However, many among the ordinary main roads are littered ing on the road when dogs ran behind people believe it is not only the govern- with garbage. them. They ran and did not come back ment to blame. Farooq Ahmed, a school Even some areas in to take our taxi,” a driver, Sajad Ahmed teacher, says people are also responsible uptown city present a says. “We are in a big problem.” for the city being still “very dirty”. sorry picture. At the Po- Many people blame the authori- A municipality dustbin continues loview market on Resi- ties of failing to deliver on the promises to be outside his school only because dency Road, which is of making the city clean. A 350-metric the people living in the vicinity don’t a tourist hub, a gar- ton capacity waste dumping cell at want it outside their houses. This, he bage-shed is used Achen, Srinagar, which was set to be believes, will have a bearing on the for dumping the made functional in May this year, is yet health of young children at the school. waste from the to be completed. Srinagar may or may not retain adjacent areas. However, Director of the Econom- the tag of being among the dirtiest Shop- ic Reconstruction Agency (ERA), Kha- cities of the country next year. But keepers say lid Muzaffar says work on the cell was come April, the city is bound to look a this has led stopped due to rain. bit cleaner. It is time for Durbar Move, to a de- “But I’m sure the cell will be opera- when the government shifts to Sri- cline in tional by this June,” he says. nagar from winter capital Jammu for t h e i r Locals also accuse the various gov- six months. This is when the roadside ernment departments of negligence. naalis or drains are cleaned, streets Shafiq Ahmed Dar, a driver at a taxi are marked with lines of white choo- stand near Lal chowk, says his col- na and traffic crossings are painted leagues had to clean an open manhole anew. “After the move Srinagar is like and got it covered. a Mahrin (bride),” says a shopkeeper. “Municipality said it will be done “Till then, we Kashmiris are left like by Roads and Building (R&B) men. cattle.” 5 MERCTIMES Familiar Hazardous roadblocks hit traffic means of livelihood management Younus Mohammad Dar

minibus tries to push through a nar- row gap. An auto rickshaw nudges past Aa Maruti car parked on the roadside and a pedestrian is moving in the middle of the road. In Srinagar, a 15-minute walk from Dalgate to Lal chowk takes half an hour in a vehicle. In the name of traffic management, there are less than 200 traffic policemen in the summer capital to deal with around two lakh vehicles. Result: frequent traffic jams across the city. Top officials of Traffic department admit it. “Yes, this is a problem,” says Deputy In- spector General of Police (Traffic) Vijay Ku- mar. “We have very few cops to regulate the traffic. Most of them are on duty with VIPs.” On Residency Road, one of the busiest city avenues, private vehicles are parked on both sides of the road leaving little space for smooth flow of traffic. Even as there are three parking lots in the area, the traffic cops look the other way and don’t act against these violators. Mir Usman because of contaminated waters of widened in the year 2000, but for An autorickshaw driver gives us the rea- the Nallah,” says Firdous Ahmad, the last couple of years nobody has son. “We regularly pay (bribe) them,” he al- nce famous for its me- 25, a bajri collector. bothered to clean it up.” leges. “That’s why they don’t act against us.” dicinal properties, the “But there is no other option No dustbins are installed in The vehicles parked on the roads are not Owater from “Teilbal for me. This is my main source of the area and no garbage carrier the only problem. Street vendors too have oc- Nallah”(rivulet) is proving to be a income.” from the Municipal Corporation cupied a good part of the road and the side- major cause of diseases in Wan- The area, based on a popu- comes to collect the waste. ways built for the pedestrians. At city centre gund-Teilbal. lation of few hundred, has a poor “We are forced to dump our Lal chowk, half of the roads are blocked by Located in the outskirts of drainage system, which has added to garbage nearby. Nobody from fruit sellers, garment and crockery vendors. Srinagar city, a major part of pop- their woes. Water from kitchens and the municipality comes to take it “The traffic cops are hand-in-glove with these ulation here has developed health bathrooms has nowhere to go. Gar- away,” says Hajra, a housewife. street vendors,” says a shopkeeper. problems due to consumption of bage has accumulated in the drains, Authorities have set up four “They allow them to put their carts on the contaminated water of the Nallah. blocking them at many places. hand pumps in the area in a bid to roads after taking money from them. This cre- Piles of garbage in and around A 500-feet-long drain, a ma- provide clean drinking water. But ates traffic jams.” the Nallah as well as in the Mohal- jor waste carrier, is blocked. As the step has not had much of im- Though the state government has desig- lah (locality) have deteriorated the this drain is surrounded by houses pact. The water from these hands nated specific passenger stops for the mini- water quality, putting the health of and runs through the centre of the pumps is still unsafe for drinking. buses and other public transport, they are inhabitants at risk. area, the risk of diseases has only “Only two hand pumps pro- hardly used. The mini-bus drivers stop vehi- “Our children have fallen ill,” increased. vide somewhat clean water but it cles on their will at any place, any time. says Muhammad Amin, a local According to Dr Sameer Tak, needs to be kept in a bucket to al- “The government is not implementing its resident, whose two children are a gastroenterologist at Sher-i- low the grime to settle,” says Hajra. own laws,” says a pedestrian. “If they (govern- undergoing treatment for enteric Kashmir Institute of Medical Sci- In addition to the dan- ment) want smooth flow of traffic, they have to infection. ences (SKIMS), the risk of catch- ger of drinking the water, enforce the laws and book the violators.” “Summer has arrived and the ing waterborne diseases as well as t h e r e i s a t h r e a t f r o m t h e The Traffic Department is not ready to danger of spread of diseases has other diseases becomes higher in drains also. The manholes are to- take the entire blame. They point fingers at increased manifold,” he adds. the absence of proper sanitation. tally uncovered which is a threat to other departments as well. “You need to ask Apart from providing water “Cholera and Diarrhea are the safety of children. They have been questions to the Regional Transport Officer for domestic consumption, the most deadly.” temporarily covered by people and the officials of Municipal Corporation Nallah is a source of livelihood for Officials pay deaf ear to their themselves. also,” says Superintendent of Police (Traffic) many. People collect “Bajri” (grav- complaints, say the local residents. The concerned official of City, Maqsood-uz-Zaman. “They have also a el) and sell it to run their house- Ali Muhammad Baba, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation role to play in the smooth flow of traffic.” hold. head of Mohallah committee com- (SMC) could not be contacted de- “I developed a skin infection plains, “Although the drain was spite repeated attempts. MERCTIMES 6 Farmer’s scary friend Zubair Mohammad Wani live in rural areas with agriculture er from Kulan, Ganderbal. Despite new methods of agri- being their main occupation. Scare- Not only birds, scarecrows keep cultural development coming forth, t has legs but it doesn’t walk. It crows are placed in the field’s right away small children therefore en- scarecrows have retained their tra- has arms but it doesn’t clutch. It from the day when seeds are sown suring more safety for crops. ditional place and are helping farm- Ilooks like a human but it has no and up to the day when crops are “Its man-like structure also de- ers to get better yield. life. The structure is a scarecrow. harvested. ceives thieves during the night. We “In Kashmir, scarecrows were It is a crude image or effigy of a hu- As they are taken for real by the cannot think of a rich cultivation introduced by farmers in the ancient man made up of wooden sticks with intruding birds, scarecrows keep without scarecrows. Its advantage times. Its exact date of evolution clothes kept on. Essentially, it is a de- them away from the fields for getting can’t be described in words,” he can’t be traced.” says Jana Begum, coy to deceive birds and to discour- rich cultivation. adds. a 70-year-old woman from Bandi- age them from disturbing and feed- “Scarecrow is the best means of Varying in size and design, pora. ing on the recently cast seeds and protecting our crops from any dam- scarecrows can be placed at differ- “It performs its duty without growing crops. age by the birds especially crows,” ent positions in the field depending any demands and favours. Its fidel- In Kashmir 70 per cent people says Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, a farm- on the density of the crop. ity cannot be doubted,” she adds.

VERITE FILM FESTIVAL

Ikra Fayaz

‘Life on wheels’, a documentary made by MERC film bags a group of second semester students of Media Education Research Centre, Kash- mir University won the first prize in Verite film festival held at Islamic University of top honours Science and Technology, Awantipora (IUST)on April 20. “It is gratifying that the film of our students has won the award at the film festival competing with the national-level films. This vindicates our belief that our students are highly talented and are being provided proper training at MERC and EMMRC,” said Head of MERC, Dr Shahid Rasool, who was present on the occasion. “I congratulate the students and their supervisors for doing an excellent job and bringing a good name to the institution,” Dr Shahid said. The students who were a part of the film feel a sense of recognition. “We worked very hard while mak- ing this documentary. We are thankful to the whole team of MERC who helped us in making this picture. The film is about the life of bus conductors and the hard- ships they face in life,” said the students, who made the film under the guidance of Akmal Hanan, Assistant Producer at Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC). “Film making is learnt through film making. Talent wise, the students are sec- ond to none. As a mentor I gave my inputs which were very well utilized by the stu- dents,” Hanan said. He congratulated the entire team, adding that the students are being given The team of ‘Life on Wheels’ pose for camera after winning the award. good platform to exhibit their talent and their work is being applauded. 7 MERCTIMES

Sheikh Saleem captures different views of Wangund, Telbal in the outskirts of Srinagar. The pictures reflect the poor living conditions, which is one of the main urban issue facing the dwellers of the locality. MERCTIMES 8 T O U R D I A R Y 2 0 1 0 MERC students interact with media stalwarts Excellent opportunity for media students: VC

journalists Siddharth Varadarajan, Sandeep Dixit, Vinay Kumar and Iftikhar Gilani shared their per- sonal experience with the students. During this interaction, students raised queries regarding covering of Kashmir by national media, job op- portunities in any media organisa- tion and a lot of other issues. The media students also visited the Press Galleries of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Bureau of Parliamentary Studies & Training (BPST) and Lok Sabha Television Channel (LSTV) where they had an extensive interaction with K.S. Students having an interactive session with Sachidananda Murthy, P. Sreedharan, Chief Executive Lok Sabha Television at bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training, Resident Editor ‘Ma- New Delhi. layala Manorama’. Besides, students also met Asadud- Naveed Iqbal and such din Owaisi, Mem- endeavours ber Parliament and tudents of Kashmir Univer- would contin- Leader ‘All India sity‘s Media Education Re- ue in future to Majlis-E-Ittehadul Ssearch Centre (MERC) met broaden their Muslimeen Parlia- prominent media personalities dur- vision,” he said. mentary Party’ in ing their 10-day tour to New Delhi H e a d , Lok Sabha. between February 21 to March 2. MERC, Dr Three stu- A group of 27 fourth-semester Shahid Rasool dents Harris Zargar, Sha- students under the supervision thanked Direc- I G N O U , koor Rather and Ibrahim Wani of senior faculty members Syeda tor Consortium Delhi Media Centre for were selected as trainees in Press Afshana and Muslim Jan, and for Education- a l Research & Publications, Delhi Union Trust of India, after they appeared Section Officer G M Mir visited Communication (CEC) Dr T R Kem of Journalists (DUJ), National Coun- in the tests conducted by the news several media institutions and or- for providing free accmodation to cil for Promotion of Language agency during the tour. The CEO ganizations. MERC students at CEC and IUAC (NCPUL), and other institutions. of CNN-IBN and executive editor Vice Chancellor of Kashmir Guest House during the tour. They interacted with more than ‘Indian Express’ also promised to University Prof. (Dr.) Riyaz Punabi The students visited CNN-IBN, 70 media persons including media place some of the students in their said the tour provided an excellent News X, , Hindustan Times, Indian stalwarts like Tarun Tejpal, Vinod organizations after proper vetting. opportunity for media students Express, , Tehelka, Mehta, Rajdeep Sardesai, Jehan- The students expressed satisfac- to interact with prominent media Outlook, Riverbank Studios, United gir S. Pocha , Seema Mustafa, Aziz tion over the conduct of the tour. persons. News of India (UNI), Press Trust of Burney, Unni Rajen Shanker, Raj “Unlike others, for us the in- “This is for first time when stu- India (PTI), AJK Mass Communica- Kamal Jha, Ranjan Roy, Subhab- centive of travelling to Delhi was dents visited the Parliament be- tion Research Centre of Jamia Mil- rata Guha, Sudeep Mukhia, Sunit based on the opportunities it of- sides meeting significant number of lia Islamia, Indian Institute of Mass Tandon, M K Razdan, Mike Pan- fered to young aspiring media pro- people from media and other shades Communication, APEEJAY Institute dey and Ashok Ogra. fessionals like us, and it proved of life within a short stint. These of Mass Communication, Electronic At a special gathering orga- quite valuable”, said Shakoor, the trips enhance the skills of students Media Production Centre (EMPC), nized at Press Club of India, senior class representative.

Patron: Prof. (Dr) Riyaz Punjabi Editorial team: Mir Usman, Adil Mushatq, Muhammad Rafi Dar, Feroz Bhat, Ikra Fayaz. , Chief Editor:Dr Shahid Rasool, Editor: Muslim Jan, Sub-Editor : Suhail Ahmad, Graphic Designer: Aga Shahi e-mail: [email protected] The opinions expressed in the write ups are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policy of MERC Times or the department of Media Education Research Centre