Narad Jayanti, the nationwide annual event to mark the contribution by Media was celebrated in Chennai today, May 19, 2019 at Vani Mahal, T Nagar on Sage Narada’s Jayanti. Inaugural song was sung by Yamini Venkat.
Smt Revathi, who has rich experience as editor in leading magazines presided over the event. Umesh Upadhyay who has 30 years experience in print and visual media and currently working in the area of digital media delivered the special address.
In her presidential address, Smt Revathi stressed on the need for thorough investigation of facts before reporting. The essence of Gita is owning our Dharma. Following our Dharma will make our life pure and create a society with values. We must ensure that truth is reported. Ultimately it is the grace of God and Guru that are vital for everyone to succeed in life.
In his speech, Umesh Upadhyay recalled the great hospitality he received 40 years back when he visited Madurai in Tamilnadu as a student. At that time, he was conversant only in Hindi. Despite difficulty in communication he narrated how he was taken care by people in Madurai, Rameswaram and other places. He was hosted in the homes and did not have to stay in hotels. He remarked that the great hospitality to even strangers that he saw in Tamilnadu was the first lesson in his life on nationalism. This is unique to our country and is seen in other parts of the nation also.
Tamil is the oldest language. The real story of India has not been properly told. Colonial people came with an agenda and successfully suppressed the real facts of India. He expressed concerns about the narratives not being set by Indians but by outsiders. It should be By Indians, For Indians, and To Indians
Umesh Upadhyay elaborated on digital media, digital data and the world. Mobiles have become an extended part of body. People hold to it like holding on to life. Currently we are consuming 300 crore GB data per month. We are world number one in data collection. Data cost in India has reduced by 95% per GB. There are 60 crore internet connections which covers half of our population. We are currently using 8.5 GB per month against 5.5 GB by China. US is even lesser. Average Indian spends 17 hours per week on social media. The implication is that Media is undergoing a great change. Digital media revenue is increasing. The revenue for 2018 is 11K crores and is increasing rapidly. Out of which 9500 crores went to Google and FB.1500 crores went to our national media.
He cautioned on the grave threat of digital colonization. There is no adequate control over data. Uniform law is needed to protect data security. Artificial intelligence machines know more about you then what you know about yourself. Jobs will go to machines. Humans will become more redundant. We must gear up for newer opportunities and changes.
We should ensure we have a control on the narrative and it should be beneficial to the nation. Harmonious life and good daily routine are needed. Let us revert to our tradition in food and culture. He expressed his gratitude for being given an opportunity to visit Punya Bhoomi, Tamil Nadu.
R P Murugesan, Maridas, Padmini Prakash, Bhuvaneswari Poornaswami and B Saravanan were felicitated with Narada Awards for this year 2019. Awardees spoke on the occasion and expressed their views. The program concluded with vote of thanks and VandeMataram song.