Hyderabad: The Centre for Development Documentation and Communication (CDC), National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad is organising an 7-day online ‘Master Trainers Programme on Media for Rural Development’ from 26th April, 2021 to 2nd May, 2021.

Dr. Akanksha Shukla, Head (i/c), CDC and the coordinator of the training programme said that the programme aims to strengthen rural coverage and generate content for media and equip personnel to handle media.

The major objectives of the training programme include imparting training to the officials/personnel in rural areas on how to handle media, enhance knowledge of participants on various aspects of rural development, orient their attitude for professional coverage by facilitating interaction with media, document the success stories of innovative initiatives made in the field and enlarge the feeling of inclusive and overall growth and to equip them for achieving it.

DG Dr G Narendra Kumar, IAS of National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (NIRD&PR) under whose leadership the program was initiated

The programme has been structured in way to cover a wide array of topics such as Rural Communication Structure and News Sourcing, Gender Issues in Rural India: Challenges and Way Ahead, Agrarian Issues for Journalistic Perspectives, IT in Rural Development, GIS in Rural Development, Mobile Journalism, DDU-GKY: Sourcing Success Stories and Analysis, Financial Programmes for Rural India: ‘What’ & ‘How’, Social Audit, MGNREGA: Communication Gaps & Challenges, PMAY & Rural Water Mission: Policy & Challenges, etc.

Apart from faculty members of NIRDPR, Dr. W R Reddy, IAS, former Director General, NIRDPR, Dr. K Raja Ram, Head, Department of Mass Communication, Telangana University and Ritesh Taksande, Director/Cinematographer, will handle the sessions comprising lectures, class participation, group participation, issue-based problem-solving exercises.

What is NIRDPR?

The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR), an autonomous organisation under the Union Ministry of Rural Development, is a premier national centre of excellence in rural development and Panchayati Raj.

Recognized internationally as one of the UN-ESCAP Centres of Excellence, it builds capacities of rural development functionaries, elected representatives of PRIs, bankers, NGOs and other stakeholders through inter-related activities of training, research and consultancy.

The Institute is located in Hyderabad, Telangana. The NIRD&PR celebrated its Golden Jubilee Year of establishment in 2008. In addition to the main campus at Hyderabad, this Institute has North-Eastern Regional Centre at Guwahati, Assam to meet the NE-regional needs.

The mission of NIRDPR Is to facilitate the rural development efforts with particular emphasis and focus on the rural poor by improving the knowledge, skills and attitudes of rural development officials and non-officials through organising training, workshops and Seminars.

1. Organise training programmes, conferences, seminars and workshops for senior level development managers, elected representatives, bankers, NGOs and other stakeholders;
2. Undertake, aid, promote and coordinate research on its own and / or collaborate with State, national and international development agencies;
3. Analyse and offer solutions to problems encountered in planning and implementation of the programmes for rural development, decentralised governance, panchayati raj and related programmes;
4. Study the functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and rural development programmes across the States.