I & C @ 10 MILE STONE
So, said, Dr Mahesh Joshi
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my great privilege to address this august gathering because of many reasons.
For one, as a representative of electronic media I bow my head in respect to many doyens of print media here, who are considered as elder brothers of electronic media, in terms of both their experience and expertise.
Secondly, in my long and trying association with Doordarshan, I have witnessed the birth of many newspapers, tabloids, magazines and journals. While, I have been invited for the ‘naming ceremony’, hardly there were further invitations for the first or second birth days. Therefore, the tenth birthday of a unique magazine, namely Issues & Concerns, deserves laudation and applause. As the Bhishmacharya of Indian press, Padmabhushan Dr. M.V.Kamath has rightly said in the 10th anniversary special of the magazine, “Ten years is a long term in the life of a magazine, especially a magazine like Issues and Concerns.” My hearty congratulations to its captain, the one and only one, Shri Jayaram Shriyan and his dedicated team, for their relentless efforts.
Jawahar Lal Nehru once said : ‘There is no easy walk over to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to walk over the shadow again and again before we reach the mountain top of our desire’.
It is a saddening fact that even after 63 long years, we are unable to reach that mountain top of our desire. Often, we are left to wonder, whether our next generation will succeed in realising the dream of a nation? But the grim realities like poverty, ill-health, corruption, nepotism, hunger, caste, illiteracy haunt us, like shadows Nehru mentioned. We, Indians, have a tendency to accept all this as an inseparable part of our life or ‘Karma’ and live with it.
We are indifferent to the fact that today 40% of Mumbai is a slum or 35% Delhi defecates in the open. Everyday, 300 million people in this country go to bed hungry, does not mean anything to us. We simply Shrug when we read that India rank 124th in the human development report and countries like Namibia and Bangladesh have better ranking than us. We are not bothered to learn that 30% of world’s illiterates hail from India. Our infant mortality is, ninety per thousand and maternal mortality is 550 per lakh.
Yes, we have issues and concerns, ladies and gentlemen, but none of us bother about it anymore. In parties, during dinner, we seriously discuss about it and forget about it once the dinner is served.
The year 2000 was hailed and welcomed as the ‘new millennium’. In Indian journalism, a brave man took a bold step and ushered a new millennium too. That gentlemen, that brave heart, that man, who dared to take an untried, lonely and long path into the forest of problems, issues and concerns is Mr Jayaram Shriyan.
In the last decade, he has given a voice to the feelings of many fellow Indians thro' his magazine.
The issues they have touched, and tried sincerely to offer a possible solution are many.
Population, Corruption, environment, terrorism, human rights, hunger, poverty, scams, aids, drought, naxalism, women empowerment, child labour, consumer rights every issue of Issues & Concerns has done its bit in calling attention, trying to analyse the problem and providing a solution.
In these days of globalization, prosperities too should be globalysed. The media and academician in particular have the responsibility of seeing to this. For the ancient vedic saying ‘Sarvejanaah sukhino bhavanthu’ to happen, we need to continuously testing the democracy, the society and challenge its limits.
This job of testing, challenging the society has effectively been done by Issues & Concerns. I hope, pray and wish this great job will continue, till we reach, as a nation, the pinnacle of our desires.
Once again I wish the magazine all the very best.
Thank you
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my great privilege to address this august gathering because of many reasons.
For one, as a representative of electronic media I bow my head in respect to many doyens of print media here, who are considered as elder brothers of electronic media, in terms of both their experience and expertise.
Secondly, in my long and trying association with Doordarshan, I have witnessed the birth of many newspapers, tabloids, magazines and journals. While, I have been invited for the ‘naming ceremony’, hardly there were further invitations for the first or second birth days. Therefore, the tenth birthday of a unique magazine, namely Issues & Concerns, deserves laudation and applause. As the Bhishmacharya of Indian press, Padmabhushan Dr. M.V.Kamath has rightly said in the 10th anniversary special of the magazine, “Ten years is a long term in the life of a magazine, especially a magazine like Issues and Concerns.” My hearty congratulations to its captain, the one and only one, Shri Jayaram Shriyan and his dedicated team, for their relentless efforts.
Jawahar Lal Nehru once said : ‘There is no easy walk over to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to walk over the shadow again and again before we reach the mountain top of our desire’.
It is a saddening fact that even after 63 long years, we are unable to reach that mountain top of our desire. Often, we are left to wonder, whether our next generation will succeed in realising the dream of a nation? But the grim realities like poverty, ill-health, corruption, nepotism, hunger, caste, illiteracy haunt us, like shadows Nehru mentioned. We, Indians, have a tendency to accept all this as an inseparable part of our life or ‘Karma’ and live with it.
We are indifferent to the fact that today 40% of Mumbai is a slum or 35% Delhi defecates in the open. Everyday, 300 million people in this country go to bed hungry, does not mean anything to us. We simply Shrug when we read that India rank 124th in the human development report and countries like Namibia and Bangladesh have better ranking than us. We are not bothered to learn that 30% of world’s illiterates hail from India. Our infant mortality is, ninety per thousand and maternal mortality is 550 per lakh.
Yes, we have issues and concerns, ladies and gentlemen, but none of us bother about it anymore. In parties, during dinner, we seriously discuss about it and forget about it once the dinner is served.
The year 2000 was hailed and welcomed as the ‘new millennium’. In Indian journalism, a brave man took a bold step and ushered a new millennium too. That gentlemen, that brave heart, that man, who dared to take an untried, lonely and long path into the forest of problems, issues and concerns is Mr Jayaram Shriyan.
In the last decade, he has given a voice to the feelings of many fellow Indians thro' his magazine.
The issues they have touched, and tried sincerely to offer a possible solution are many.
Population, Corruption, environment, terrorism, human rights, hunger, poverty, scams, aids, drought, naxalism, women empowerment, child labour, consumer rights every issue of Issues & Concerns has done its bit in calling attention, trying to analyse the problem and providing a solution.
In these days of globalization, prosperities too should be globalysed. The media and academician in particular have the responsibility of seeing to this. For the ancient vedic saying ‘Sarvejanaah sukhino bhavanthu’ to happen, we need to continuously testing the democracy, the society and challenge its limits.
This job of testing, challenging the society has effectively been done by Issues & Concerns. I hope, pray and wish this great job will continue, till we reach, as a nation, the pinnacle of our desires.
Once again I wish the magazine all the very best.
Thank you
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