National Council meeting of the Association of Small and Medium Newspapers of India concluded successfully at conference hall of Journalist Union Of Assam, Guwahati on 27th June 2009.Mr. T.G. Baruah, chairman of the Assam Tribune Group was chief guest.The problems of small and medium newspapers were discussed. The detailsof the meetings with the minister of I & B Mrs. Ambika Soni and thePrinciple D.G. of PIB Mrs. Neelam Kapur were also discussed. GeneralSecretary of the association Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi welcomed the guests,giving details of the activities of the association. Mr. Suresh Garodiawelcomed the guests in the traditional assami way. In the inaugural speech Mr. T.G. Baruah said that small and medium newspapers play an important role in the developing society. Small and medium newspapers are not getting required help from government. They are discriminating while giving advertisements and other facilities.
In the meeting Mr.Keshav Dutt Chandola announced national excutive as Mr. B.R.Kumar(Rashtriya Buniyad HW, Mumbai)- Vice President, Mr. Ashok Chaturvedi(Amarjyoti HW, Jaipur)- General Secretary, Mr. Arif Jamal (New Observerpost, H/D, Delhi) -Secretary, Mr. P.Vishnumurthy (Janmitra TW, Yenam)-Organising Secretary, Mrs. Bhagwati Chandola (Lok Sahitya Varta HF,Kanpur) Treasurer and Mr. Shiv Chandra Agnihotri (Loksindhu HW, Kanpur), Mr. Sanjiv Jain (GTB Times HD, Delhi) and MrsMangipudi Aruna (Gudi Ganta TW, Rajahmundry) as member of nationalcouncil. He also announced state presidents for Assam- Mr. SureshGarodia (Purvanchal Abhimat AW, Guwahati), Rajasthan- Mrs. Asha Patel(Garibon Ka Setu HF, Jaipur), Punjab- Mr. U.K.Sharda (Egalitarian EWLudhiana) and for Gujrat- Mr. Gulab K. Bhati (Loksangh GW, Palanpur).Mr. Chandola said that the presidents
for other state will be announced soon after getting the consent of the member of respective states.The members of Andhra Pradesh requested to organize a meeting atTirupati so that the unit of Andhra Pradesh and southern states couldbe formed. The member expressed surprise over the hindrance in mobileservices. The members from all over the country unaware that theirmobile will not work in the eastern states.
Afterthe meeting, a seminar on the “ Role of small and medium newspapers inthe development of the society” was organized jointly by theassociation and Journalist Union of Assam. Senior journalist, formerPresident of Assam Sahitya Sabha and publisher of Daily Agradoot Mr.Kanaksen Deka was chief guest. In the seminar, Mr. Geetartha Pathak,president of JUA, said that the home ministry has stopped std servicesin that part of the country which has been a problem for people there.The rural telephone services of Bangladesh and China are active and canuse very easily these services. Regional people are facing unnecessaryproblems but terrorists have all available services. EasternDevelopment Council had been completely unsuccessful in the carryingout responsibilities. He said that the small and medium newspapers playan important role in the solving the problems of regional people andpeople have more expectation from them.
Mr.Kanaksen Deka said that all the newspapers of eastern states haveprogressed a lot these newspapers have come in the medium categary fromsmall. But the problems of advertisements, payments have still notimproved. Only 35 percent net income is spent in these states. Becauseof this, eastern states are still not able to develop. There is a lotof corruption and people are unhappy. He said country should haveinformed about these states so that the people here don’t have to giveproof of their nationality.
Manysenior journalist including Mr. Suresh Garodia, S.C.Sarma, P.Vishnumurthy, Jasim Raja and other office bearers expressed their ownviews in the seminar. Regional journalists hounored the guests andoffice bearers of the association in traditional assami way. GeneralSecretary gave a vote of thanks and expressed his gratefulness towardsJUA and its president Mr Geetarth Pathak for organizing the meeting andseminar
