Vernacular languages powerful in connecting to roots: VC KU

Srinagar, Sep 11: To focus on enhancing the skills of budding journalists and of those already working in the field, a four-day capacity building workshop for Urdu journalists began Monday here at the University of Kashmir’s main campus.
The workshop is being organised by the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL), New Delhi in collaboration with Dean School of Arts, Languages and Literature, and Media Education Research Centre (MERC), University of Kashmir.
Stressing on the significance of Urdu language and its deep roots in our culture, Vice Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Prof Nilofar Khan said the youth are getting disconnected from our culture and that vernacular languages have the power to connect them back to the roots.
“The digital culture has brought many important changes in our lives but at the same time, there is a risk of getting distracted. And those distractions can be avoided if we inculcate and encourage the reading culture among our youth,” she said adding, Urdu has an amazing reach and young Urdu journalists, if trained well, can make amazing contributions to the development of their society and to whole humanity as well.
Director NCPUL, Prof Aquil Ahmad said NCPUL has a huge budget for promoting Urdu journalism and that budget is allocated for encouraging healthy journalism.
“Urdu journalists need to understand media can play a significant role in nation-building provided they focus on positive developments and disseminate the information regarding journalism among the people,” he said adding, bad practices like yellow journalism need to be checked and young journalists need to be encouraged in a proper direction to put the best use of their skills.
Stressing on the importance of the workshop in helping the participants improve their journalistic skills, Dean School of Arts, Languages and Literatures, Prof Adil Amin Kak said Urdu has a long and shinning past and that it has great potential for “it is the language of masses here”.
Stressing on ethical reporting, Director Institute of Kashmir Studies (IKS) and faculty at MERC, Prof Aliya Ahmad said journalists need to be good communicators in order to do justice with their job.
“Journalists can do well only if they are good communicators and best communication happens in one’s own language,” she said.
The inaugural session was followed by technical sessions on the future of Urdu journalism and feature writing wherein the participants engaged in practical exercises.