Biru Nepali – KATHMANDU: Jagaran Media Centre has organised its 22nd annual general assembly on Thursday here in Kathmandu. The assembly chaired by its chairperson and member of Constituent Assembly Kamala Bishwokarma has assessed the programmes of the organisation and discussed the further strategy and work plan to achieve its objectives.
Officials of the JMC said the media centre has completed historic programmes in the past including its continuous support in different movements including Dalit related struggles and developing Dalit journalists besides enhancing their skills. JMC was in the forefront in raising the issues of Dalits and other marginalised communities through different media and therefore they stressed on the need to keep records of its contribution.
According to its member’s collective effort, cooperation and mutual respect will help democratise the organisation and help to make it inclusive and develop a system and it also helps in personal growth as well as in organisational development.
The participating members of the JMC have pointed out that they have to face newer challenges with the change in problems. They also hailed the JMC’s activities to lobby for the right of Dalit and other marginalized communities and suggested for widening such activities.
Advisor of JMC and researcher JB Bishwokarma said collective effort is essential to speed up its activities to develop it as a common organisation.
Saying that JMC has created healthy discussions on Nepali Dalit movement through media Bishwokarma said JMC has played a crucial role to establish the issue of Dalit inclusion in the media and to increase the number of Dalit journalists in the media.
During the general assembly, General Secretary Bhim Bahadur Ghimire had briefed about the ongoing programmes of the organisation for the fiscal year 2077-78 BS.
Treasurer Shushil Darnal presented income and expenditure of the fiscal year 2077-78 BS. He said the total income of JMC in the fiscal year was Rs 9.216 million among which Rs 9.083 was received from donor agencies and remaining from internal funds. The expenditure for the fiscal year was Rs 7.798 million.
Addressing the function Chairperson Kamala Bishwokarma had thanked all those who contributed to bring the JMC to this stage including the founding members and advisors. “There are a host of challenges to run the organisation but we should take it as an opportunity,” Bishwokarma said. “We are planning to run the JMC with a new plan and vision.”
The JMC is a non-governmental organisation established in 2000 by the journalists representing Dalit communities. Ever since its establishment the JMC has been advocating to mainstream various social, cultural, economic and political issues of Dalit in the mainstream through media. It has been utilising various media including radio, television programmes, online, newspaper, and social media networks in its bid to create a just and equitable society ending caste-based discrimination from the society.
