Principal, Prof. (Dr.) Yasmeen Ashai  asks students to learn from experiences of seasoned journalists

Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Govt. College for Women, M.A. Road, Srinagar held an interaction session with Ms. Naveed Iqbal, Principal Correspondent, The Indian Express on July 15, 2019.

In the session titled ‘Excelling in Print Journalism’, Ms. Naveed shared her experiences of working on important reporting beats including politics and education for The Indian Express in Delhi and later in J&K. She shared valuable tips with the students to excel in reporting. She called on the students to ensure accuracy and fairness in their news reports through proper attribution and verification of information. Ms. Naveed spoke extensively about the opportunities and challenges in print media.

Naveed started her journalistic career with Delhi office of the Indian Express in 2011. Naveed covered politics, education, urbanisation and civic issues in Delhi- NCR region. She was deputed to Srinagar bureau some 2 years back and she has been covering politics and the armed conflict in the valley.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal, Prof. (Dr.) Yasmeen Ashai said Naveed has been the pass-out of the college and she has made the institution proud with her work. “Naveed was an excellent debater as a student. She won several prizes and trophies for the college in different competitions. Naveed would actively participate in various co-curricular activities at the campus. Now as a professional reporter also, she is doing a very impressive work,” Prof. Ashai said.

Prof. Ashai said such interaction sessions provide opportunity to the students to learn from the experiences of seasoned journalists. She called on the students to make newspaper/magazine/book reading a habit to enhance their understanding of the world affairs, improve their vocabulary and writing skills.

Students of all four semesters currently enrolled at the department attended the session. Ms. Naveed answered the queries of the students in an engrossing and productive interaction session.

Earlier, Head, Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Dr. Suhail Ahmad briefed the audience about the work and experience of the guest speaker. He said the department has been holding regular interactions with working journalists to acquaint students with important tips of the profession and motivate them to work earnestly in pursuit of a successful career.

Dr. Suhail thanked Principal, Prof. Yasmeen Ashai for encouraging the department to engage in co-curricular and extension activists.

The session concluded with formal Vote of Thanks by Prof. Hajira Bano. Prof. Mudabbir Ahmad handled the logistical part of the event.

Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Govt. College for Women, M.A. Road, Srinagar hosted Ms. Shahana Butt, Producer/Correspondent with Press TV International, for an interaction session on ‘Excelling in broadcast Journalism’ on July 15, 2019.

Shahana shared experiences from her journalistic career to highlight the things one should bear in mind to excel as a broadcast journalist.  She called on the students to cultivate the habit of reading and hone the skill of writing. Shahana referred to the importance of language proficiency in terms of grammar, vocabulary and even pronunciation.

She acknowledged the work of the students from the department who have contributed to the latest issue of her news magazine The Indus Post. Shahana offered help to students interested in print or broadcast journalism.

Speaking on the occasion, Principal, Prof. (Dr.) Yasmeen Ashai said: “It’s really heartening to see the alumni of the college excel in different fields of life. Shahana was a bright student and she went on to make a mark in the field of journalism. She serves as a shining example for students to emulate.”

Prof. Ashai reiterated the need for punctuality and discipline among students for a productive stint at the college.

Shahana has been working as correspondent/producer for the Tehran-based international news channel Press TV since 2008. Her reportage has been widely appreciated. She has also started her own venture The Indus Post magazine with some students from the journalism department as active content contributors.

Earlier, Head, Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Dr. Suhail Ahmad said: “Such interactions go a long way in motivating students to take up active journalism as a career option. Besides, internship has been made an integral part of the journalism course at the college as it offers hands-on training to students.”

The sessions concluded with formal Vote of Thanks by Prof. Hajira Bano. Senior college faculty- Prof. Yasmeen Farooq and Prof. Mehnaz Sheikh- were present on the occasion.

Department of Journalism &Mass Communication (DJMC), Govt. College for Women, M. A. Road, Srinagar held an interaction session with Editor News, Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar, Mr. Shabir Ahmad at the college conference hall on 12^th July 2019.

In the interaction session titled ‘Prospects of Public Relations’, Mr. Shabir delved on various aspects of the theme, including the job profile of a PR practitioner and employment prospects of the profession. He also deliberated on the various career opportunities for journalism students under Prasar Bharati, with specific reference to Doordarshan.

He also shared his experiences as a journalist, having worked with newspapers like The Indian Express, Kashmir Times, Rising Kashmir and Financial Chronicle. Having qualified Indian Information Service, Mr. Shabir shared the tips of qualifying the coveted competitive examination. Towards the end of the session, he responded to the queries of students.

Senior faculty of the college, including Staff Secretary, Prof. Muzaffar Ahmad, Joint Staff Secretary, Prof. Syed Ajaz, Coordinator of Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), Prof. Mehnaz Sheikh, Co-convener IQAC, Prof. Yasmeen Farooq and Prof. Romana Ashraf of English department were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Muzaffar floated the proposal of Memorandum of Understanding between Doordarshan and the college, paving way for internships, industrial visit to DDK and possible job opportunities for students in future.

Earlier, welcoming the guest speaker, Head, Dept. of Journalism & Mass Communication, Dr. Suhail Ahmad referred to the role of Doordarshan as the Public Service Broadcaster, handling the crucial Public Relations for the government. Referring to Mr. Shabir’s rich experience as a journalist and presently as Editor News DDK, Dr. Suhail said his inputs are quite valuable for the students.

Prof. Hajira Bano presented Vote of Thanks, extending gratitude to the guest speaker for sparing his time for the session. She also thanked the senior college faculty for gracing the occasion.

The students of 3^rd semester interacted with the editorial and management staff of the newspaper at its Press Enclave office. They were accompanied by Head of Department, Dr. Suhail Ahmad. In his preliminary briefing, he outlined the different departments of a traditional newspaper including Business, Editorial, Administrative and Mechanical sections.

Mr. Umar Khan, Manager, Kashmir Media Group which publishes Rising Kashmir, Buland Kashmir and Sangarmal, briefed the students about the importance of administration and business section which looks after circulation, advertising, accounting and promotion of a newspaper.

The students visited the Editors and Layout section. Later, the students interacted with reporters in the Newsroom. Reporters covering various news beats shared valuable tips with the students. The reporters- Junaid Kathju, Rabiya Bashir, Javed Ahmad, Mansoor Peer and Riyaz Bhat- stressed on the students to cultivate the habit of reading newspapers and magazines to stay informed about current affairs and also understand the craft of news writing.

On the occasion, the Opinion Page editor, Ishfaq Ahmad spoke about the importance of being a passionate and committed journalist.

Besides, the internee reporters also shared their experience with the students.

Terming it as a very productive visit, the students said: “It was wonderful to visit a news organization and interact with reporters and other staffers. We experienced practically what we were taught in our classroom. It was quite inspiring.”

The team will assess the college for renewal of its NAAC accreditation and rank it according to its performance in seven basic parameters including-Curricular Aspects, Teaching-learning & Evaluation, Research, Innovations & Extension, Infrastructure & Learning Resources, Student Support & Progression, Governance, Leadership & Management, and Institutional Values & Best Practices.

On first day of their visit, the NAAC peer team is scheduled to interact with Principal, Heads of Departments, Conveners of various committees and Controller Examinations. The team will visit different departments, laboratories, library, sports center, hostel and other facilities. Later in the day, the team will also interact with students and faculty.  On day two, the team is likely to review physical infrastructure, best practices and institutional distinctiveness.

The event was organised by Women Studies Centre of the college.

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Principal, Prof. (Dr.) Yasmeen Ashai appreciated the members of the craft centre and the products displayed at the exhibition. She said the craft centre is run by women and children who are unprivileged.

“For a woman to be empowered it’s very important that one she should be educated and secondly she should be financially independent. Even if it is not a woman’s college, even if it is boys college, basically the concept of empowerment is true for all,” Prof.Ashai said.

“These are hand made products made by our own women so definitely it’s going to boost our economy as well,” Prof Ashai added.

Mehru-N-Nisa

‘Fight Club’ is a 1996-book written by Chuck Palahniuk. It is a story of an anonymous person who is also the narrator here. The narrator suffers from insomnia initially in the story and then it turns out that he suffers from split personality disorder too.

The main characters are: the narrator, Tyler Durden and Marla Singer. The narrator lives in a flat, earns money by working in a car-rental company, travels a lot (because of work), and buys comfy and expensive furniture, curtains, dishes, rugs and all that stuff for himself. The narrator is a kind of person who will be considered normal in the present world or must I say that most of the people at present are like him. We want to work up to a certain age, earn money, travel around the world and live a luxurious life. So yeah, that’s how our narrator is but he suffers from insomnia because of the frequent business trips and jet lags. He lands up in a support group when his doctor tells him that he doesn’t know pain, so he should go and see the people in a support group and listen to them (that’s where he meets Marla). Then eventually he meets Tyler on a beach and start a ‘Fight Club’, hence the title of the novel.

Tyler Durden is the alternative personality of the narrator, who overtakes the narrator to such a level that many people (including Marla) know him as Tyler Durden. He takes over the narrator’s body when he is sleeping and does whatever he wants to. He is nothing like the narrator and everything that a person would want to be like – outspoken, cunning, adventurous, bold and truthful. His personality is such that all the people around him easily trust him so that so they don’t even ask him any questions about the stuff they are doing (keeping aside the fact that the first rule of ‘Project Mayhem’ is that ‘you don’t ask questions about Project Mayhem’ and the fifth rule is that ‘you’ve to trust Mr. Durden’). Also, another aspect of his personality is that he is highly pleasant and likeable. He easily builds strong relationships with the people he knows, be it the narrator, Marla Singer or the space monkeys. He can also be termed as self-destructive and insane, keeping in mind the stuff he does to himself and to others too (here referring to ‘Tyler’s Kiss’).

“Maybe self-improvement isn’t the answer.

Maybe self-destruction is the answer.”

Marla is the lone female character of the story. She wants to taste death but kind of doesn’t want to die. She goes to the support groups where she listens to people talking about their disease and their struggles with the disease. She overdoses on Xanax to feel how it feels while dying (not a “for-real suicide”). She is also self-destructive and dangerous in her own way and for her own reasons but at the same time she cares for people too (like the way she comes with all the support group people as the story is nearing its end). And once she tells the police that “she’s (Marla) confused and afraid to commit to the wrong thing so she won’t commit to anything”, referring to her insecurities.

Chuck Palahniuk has done a tremendous work. And I love the way he has written and made us understand about materialism, about how we mess-up our lives, how we are labeled, judged and controlled by all the things that won’t even matter in the long run and how we forget about the things that actually matter.

“How everything you ever love will reject you or die.

Everything you ever create will be thrown away.

Everything you’re proud of will end up as trash.”