‘Pratinidhi’ celebrates its first anniversary

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, Sep 5: On the auspicious occasion of Guru Divas, Odisha’s leading Odia fortnightly news and features magazine ‘Ama Samayara Pratinidhi’ celebrated its first anniversary here on Friday. Addressing the anniversary function as Chief Guest, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan opined that intellectual debate is necessary for a society for its growth and the role of media is vital in this context.Citing the example of Santh Bhima Bhoi, Pradhan said that the culture and tradition of Odisha has its own identity.He expressed his best wishes ‘Pratinidhi’ and hoped it to uphold this tradition.Guest of Honour on the occasion Odisha Information and Public Relations Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak praised the effort behind ‘ Pratinidhi ‘ and it’s Chief Editor Sarat Misra.He said that quality news and features should be a part of magazines like `Pratinidhi’ whose content will help the policy makers.Speaking on the occasion as Chief Speaker, eminent journalist Swapan Dasgupta stated that news that touches the public can only get acceptability.In spite of the presence of international and national media, still there is huge scope and opportunities for local or regional language media in India, Dasgupta said.He observed that day by day the local idiom, culture, tradition and issues are drawing public attention.It is an alarming fact that, with the increase of literacy rate, the reading habit of the public decreases.Similarly, there is nothing like universal culture, rather it can be called as universal values, he added.Citing the example of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s presentation of Shrimad Bhagavat Gita to Japan Prime Minister during his recent visit to Japan, Dasgupta said it is the essence of Indian values that stands out.He expected ‘Pratinidhi’ and other regional language media to work in this line to keep up the culture and tradition of Odisha.Pratinidhi Chief Editor Sarat Misra narrated the journey of a year of Pratinidhi starting from the days of its conceptualisation.Through his address he stressed that, there was an urgent need of a national level Odia journal for the students and people of Odisha, and the quest resulted in the publication of ‘Pratinidhi.’The website of ‘Pratinidhi’, http://pratinidhiodia.in/, was also inaugurated occasion by Union Minister Pradhan.