Gandhigiri: YFE join hands with Nandita Das and Shekhar Kapoor

http://www.karaditales.com/gandhi/yfe.htm

Hindu New Delhi

Rooting out corruption

Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University celebrated Gandhi Jayanti in their own way by launching a non-political outfit called “Young Gandhians Against Corruption”. As the name suggests, the outfit will focus on rooting out corruption from the country.

“Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s thought and ideals, we want to root out corruption from the topmost level of the system. Corruption accentuates poverty, increases economic disparity, retards speedy development of deprived classes, undermines democracy and, worst of all, corrodes the moral fibre of the entire nation. The rampant and burgeoning corruption in government establishments cannot be controlled unless political corruption at the top is rooted out. If there is no corruption at the higher levels, dishonesty and fraud will automatically stop happening at the grassroots level,” said the convener of the outfit, Prakasha Chandra Sahoo, a senior research fellow at JNU.

The new outfit has expressed solidarity with the Gandhian Satyagraha Brigade, whose honorary general secretary Shambhu Dutt Sharma is a freedom fighter and veteran of the Quit India Movement.

“Mr. Sharma has been a mentor for our outfit. We will soon spread to other colleges and universities. We do not necessarily need a huge membership; instead we want mature members who understand Gandhi’s ideology and his principles,” added Prakasha.

A brand new mass media institute -- MassCoMedia -- equipped with state-of-the-art technology, non-linear editing suites, radio studio, photo studio and e-classrooms has come up in Sector 58 of Noida next door to Delhi. Some of the courses offered at MassCoMedia are: undergraduate and masters’ programmes in print and broadcast journalism, television production and direction, advertising and marketing, public relations, event management and media management; diploma an d certificate courses in animation, graphics, special effects, and web content management and short term programmes in fashion photography, photojournalism, camera handling and radio jockeying.

The programmes are for not just students but also professionals and freelancers who wish to upgrade their skills.

The Institute of Clinical Research (India) recently announced the establishment of its fifth campus at the Cavendish College in London. It also announced the launch of a new course -- a global post-graduate diploma in clinical research in association with the Institute of Clinical Research, United Kingdom.

The new course is “unique”, including regulations for clinical research in Europe, the US, Japan and India. This will help in producing professionals for the global market.

It will be a part-time course and the first batch will begin in February with 40 students.

In an effort to bring today’s youth closer to “Gandhigiri”, Youth for Equality has joined hands with ace filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor and talented actor Nandita Das.

YFE in collaboration with the Karadi Tales Company Private Limited has released an audio book version of Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography titled “The Story of My Experiments with Truth”.

While Shekhar is Gandhi’s voice in the book, Nandita provides the narrative.

The audio book was released in Mumbai on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

“We plan to promote this venture among the youth. We believe this would be one of the best media to make today’s youth understand the concepts of peace and non violence,” said N. Agasti, a coordinator of the Delhi University chapter of YFE.

-- Parul Sharma