3-day Journalists' Literature Festival kicked off at Chandigarh Press Club

Chandigarh, February 24

The opening session of the three-day Journalists’ Literature Festival at Chandigarh Press Club was headlined by renowned primetime anchor Shiv Aroor and veteran journalist and anchor Chander Suta Dogra on Friday.

On the dichotomy of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ in the agrarian community of Punjab that sends one son to the border and another to the fields in light of the ongoing farmers’ protest, both Aroor and Dogra expressed that individuals have their own karambhoomi (field of action). They emphasised that the Army, being apolitical and secular, remains unaffected. Aroor unequivocally said that farmers have the right to protest and it is the government’s responsibility to ensure the smooth functioning of society.

The second session was on the topic ‘Importance of translation in spreading information’. The session moderator, senior journalist Shayda Bano, was of the opinion that in the present times, it is necessary to be multilingual to understand the outside world. Translation has played an important role in the expansion of journalism and writing which helped people for global understanding.

Senior Punjabi journalist and translator of ‘Out of the Ashes’, Davi Davinder Kaur, said in her narration that language journalism merely reflects reporting but when the translation of the same report takes shape in vernacular languages, it becomes an opinion.

The third session was about deliberating on the role of Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu langugaes in journalism wherein veteran journalist and author Dr Chandratrikha, senior journalists Manmohan Gupta Moni and Navneet Sharma from Himachal Pradesh expressed their viewpoints on language journalism in the current scenario. Panelists were of the opinion that these languages cannot be seen separately.

Later, ‘Kavi Sammelan’ was also organised wherein journalists presented their poetic creations.

A blood donation camp was arranged on the sidelines, and 20 units of blood was collected by the PGI blood bank. The fest also put together a platform for journalists to exhibit their literary work.