People supreme in democracy: Naveen at Odisha Nirman Conclave 2021

Bhubaneswar: People are supreme in a democratic society. A truly democratic government does everything keeping interest of people in mind, said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Odisha Nirman Conclave-2021 organised by Kanak News.

“People are the real partner of growth, development, social change and ultimately transformation of lives. For this to happen, the first and foremost thing what people wants from the Government is effective Government. Keeping this in mind, my Government has come out with the principle of 5T in our governance mechanism,” Patnaik said attending the programme virtually here today.

‘Sambad’ Editor Soumya Ranjan Patnaik in his welcome address said, “After winning over malnutrition, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is now focusing on education and healthcare sectors. The role of media is to create a platform for a debate on various development programmes launched by the Government. Odisha Nirman has created such a platform where personalities excelled in various sectors are felicitated.”

At the event, Governor Professor Ganeshi Lal felicitated Padma Sri Nanda Kishore Prusty, woman farmer Chhayarani Sahoo, young entrepreneur Jugabrat Kar and High-Tech Medical College & Hospital Chairman Tirupati Panigrahi at Odisha Nirman Conclave for their contribution in different fields.

Gracing the occasion, Governor Ganeshi Lal said, “It’s a commendable endeavor and ideal platform to come together, to think together, to work together and sharing the vision of perception of each and everybody and shaping the destiny of my Utkal Pradesh Odisha enhancing the pride and prestige and glory of Utkal Pradesh making it vibrant Odisha and incredible Odisha.”

Speaking at the event, author and former Editor of ‘Outlook’ Ruben Banerjee said, “Indian society is polarized and all media newsrooms have been unfortunately politicized. There has to be a middle ground like you can be both for and against. I can be in favour of Naveen Patnaik and also I can against Naveen Patnaik. I see no harm in that because I as a journalist as a part of media supposed to hold the mirror and the mirror reflects almost everything. This is exactly where the journalism has gone wrong.”

“Journalism has to be balanced, because we can’t be amplifying only one side of the story. Every story has two sides. So you have to have that moderation that exchanges the ideas. Unfortunately, what is happening with Indian media that conversation is not happening anymore. The dialogue has gone missing and rulers have gone extremely arrogant,” he said.

On current trend of journalism, Banerjee said that Indian media has become subservient to power.

“The business model of Indian media is broken. We are not making money because of various reasons. If you will be dependent on Advertisements for running the media house, you will lose independence. Overall, we are under the corporate control. We are subjected to political influence. And the latest addition to it has been rising intolerance. Nobody tolerates any form of dissent or disagreement in this country any longer. So, media is in very very hard times. You will have to survive financially otherwise no journalism to be done,” he added.