Give more attention to rural India, advises senior scribe

 Hyderabad : Senior Media Person Sardar Harpal Singh, described “purposeful journalism’’ as a channel to highlight the issues faced by the underprivileged sections of the society.
 
“In the West, political coverage that formed the dominant part of the journalism until recently is pushed down to give more attention to reports that focus on the ‘human’ dimensions of the society,” he said. 
 
Singh, who works as a senior assistant editor with The Hindu, is known for bringing to light the issues faced by rural India.  He was speaking at the weeklong workshop on Media functioning on Wednesday.  The workshop has been orgranised by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Maulana Azad National Urdu University. 
 
The problems that should get the attention of a reporter include scarcity of water, especially in summers, deforestation and decline in traditional means of livelihood. The other major problem found in rural areas is massive income disparity. “Instead of writing on poverty directly we can highlight the income disparity between rural and urban populations”, he added. To succeed in tackling rural assignments a journalist must familiarize himself with the knowledge of the topography, weather conditions and cropping patterns in a given geographical area. One should also understand the caste and economic issues in villages, he said. 
 
Harpal Singh has been reporting from the Adilabad district of Telangana State for the last 17 years. He is also an avid photographer. The government of Telangana and German Cultural Centre, Goethe Zentrum have separately organized his photo exhibitions recently.