The People’s Mission will announce the first annual ‘ Revolutionary Comrade Shiv Varma Media Awards ‘ on the eve of India’s Independence Day on 15 August 2020. Com. Shiv Verma (1904–1997) was an associate of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.The British rulers had sentenced him to ‘ Kaalaa Paani ‘ in Lahore Conspiracy Case-2 and lodged in the infamous Cellular Jail of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. He was the last revolutionary of India’s protracted freedom fight to come out alive from that jail without succumbing to the torture of the British throne’s colossal colonial powers to tender an apology. The Rashtriy Swayamsevak Sangha ( RSS) only ‘ poster boy ‘ to claim its representation in the freedom fight- Vinayak Savarkar – was also sent to the cellular jail. That ‘ veer ‘, however , had tendered a couple of written apology to come out of that.
People’s Mission , a special company under the Companies Act of India (1956) , amended in 2016, with ‘ NOT-FOR-PROFIT ‘ objectives is being incorporated in Ranchi with a galaxy of literateurs , writers , journalists , economists , agriculture experts , environmentalists , trade union leaders and health professional. Upendra Prasad Singh , a Marxist businessman of ‘ Bhasha Prakashan , Ranchi ‘ is the Chairman of its Board of Directors( BOD) and veteran journalist-writer -trade union & secular activist , Chandra Prakash Jha , is the Managing Director. Both are Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) alumni. Its BoD includes, economist Goda Ramanna- JNU alumni and former Associate Editor of The Economic Times, Professor Ish Mishra- formerly with the Hindu College , Delhi University, Dr. Raj Chandra Jha, health professional based in Ranchi, Renu Gupta- entrepreneur from Visakhapatnam and JNU alumni of its Centre for French Studies (CFS) , former Himachal Pradesh University teacher, Vidya Chhabra , also a JNU alumni of the Centre for Indian Languages ( CIL) , seasoned journalist & secular activist Ruchira Gupta, acclaimed agronomy expert journalist ,Jaspal Singh Sidhu (Punjab) and Kerala- based trade union & secular activist , MV Sasidharan. Goda Ramana also heads People’s Mission ‘ Task Force on Economy ‘.People’s Mission’s Memorandum of Association ( MoA)is based partially on MoA of the News Agency Company of the United News of India (UNI ).That MoA was formulated by a team constituted by the West Bengal Chief Minister Dr. Vidhan Chandra Roy at behest of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to ensure free flow of news to newspapers in free India. Some former senior journalist staff of UNI are on the proposed board of directors of People’s Mission.
Jury
The jury constituted for the award decisions is headed by veteran journalist , writer and thinker , Ramsharan Joshi , who is also former Pro-Vice Chancellor of ‘ Makhanlal Chaturvedi National Journalism University (Madhya Pradesh)Among the media organ editors and others included in the jury are Senior journalist and ‘ Media Darbar ‘ news portal Editor, Surendra Grover, Hard News magazine Editor and former president of JNU Students Union Amit Sengupta , Media Vigil Hindi news portal Editor , Dr. Pankaj Srivastava, Jan Chowk Hindi news portal Editor , Mahendra Mishra, research journal ‘ Jan Media ‘ Editor and acclaimed secular activist , Anil Chamadia, Satya-Hindi.com Editor, Sheetal P Singh , Shaharnama.com ( Lucknow ) Editor , Syed Hussain Afsar, Mazdoor Bigul newspaper editor,Satyam Verma ( Lucknow) ,Social Media expert and prolific writer with more than one hundred books to his credit ,Prof. Jagadishwar Prasad Chaturvedi (formerly with Kolkata University) , ‘ Janjwar’ news portal editor Piyush Pant and Vinod Viplav -senior journalist and representative of Sanchi Prakashan ( Delhi , Lucknow , Mumbai) .
Upendra Prasad Singh and Surendra Grover , the jury’s vice chairman will assist the jury chairman in administrative and technical ways respectively. Thes awards are in seven categories. 1. Social Media , 2. Print Media,3.Electronic Media, 4. Cartoons , 5. Graphics , 6. Press Photography and 7.Women Journalists Women journalists may be nominated for all categories. The awards are to be decided and announced by the midnight of 14-15 August 2020.The awards presentation session will be organised in New Delhi when the lock down ,enforced by the Government of India to tackle the Corona epidemic, is over or relaxed.
Prize A bronze bust of Shaheed Bhagat Singh , traditional shawl and pen will be presented to every awardee with a token amount of INR 10 thousand only.For the award, any citizen of India may send nominations in any way of the following options
1) by postal letter to the People’s Mission, Shop No.1 , Shri Yamuna Apartments , Anantput , overbridge , Ranchi , Pincode 834003,
2) by calling its WhatsApp mobile number 8987506515 ,
3) by sending e-mail to the People’s Mission at [email protected]
4) by making nominations on its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Peoples-Mission101419011372097/
5) by informing in writing to any jury member in any suitable way.