MANGALDAI, July 1 - �Role of media is very important in nation building and journalists, considered to be the fourth pillar of democracy, provide accurate information about government programmes, plans and policies to the people. So it is very important to disseminate proper information of the government programmes to the media at the grassroots level,� observed Ashok Kumar Barman, Deputy Commissioner, Darrang .
He was addressing the inaugural function of the rural media workshop for information dissemination in rural areas, titled, Vartalap, organised by the Press Information Bureau , Guwahati in the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner�s office here on Thursday, as the chief guest. �Media should extend a helping hand to the people by providing the information about government programmes and schemes,� he maintained. The Deputy Commissioner also hoped that the workshop will be effective for the media and bring the media closure to the available government welfare schemes in the district.
Earlier in his welcome address, LTK Singh, Joint Director, Press Information Bureau, Guwahati said that the Union government has implemented several social sustainable programmes for the people and the success of these schemes will be achieved only when necessary information is disseminated to the rural masses through the local media.
In the technical sessions, Bhupesh Ch Das, chief executive officer, Darrang Zila Parishad cum Project Director, DRDA, Darrang, as the resource person, delivered speech on �Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing for All,� a mega flagship programme of the Central government. Supported by power-point presentation, he highlighted different aspects of the programme including norms for beneficiary selection, procedures for fund release, period for completion of one unit, govt approved model, steps to check the possibility of fund diversion by a section of beneficiaries, relevant land policies, among others. He also confidently responded to the queries made by different participating mediapersons.
The workshop also witnessed Momshad Dinory, Superintendent of Taxes, Mangaldai speaking on the topic, �Goods and Services Taxes (GST).� The GST implementation is a historical step in the taxation history of India, he said. He also elaborated with supporting statistics how GST will simplify the taxation system by merging seven different taxes within one umbrella and will be beneficial for a State like Assam, which is one of the consuming States in the country.
He also had a fruitful interactive session with the mediapersons who raised various questions including possible benefits and challenges to the common customers and marginal traders following implementation of the GST.
In the last technical session, Pulaknath, marketing executive, Head Post Office, Mangaldai spoke on �Beti Bachao Beti Padao� and said that, BBBP aims to provide education to the girl child in the nation. The workshop which ended with the vote of thanks by Monimala Gogoi, DIPRO, Darrang was anchored by young mediaperson Barasha Das. More than 70 scribes from all across the district participated in the day-long workshop.
