17th Ramnath Goenka Awards for Excellence in Journalism | On way to being economic power, our ideals, convictions also key in a democracy: Gadkari

He also said that people are no longer interested in who said what, but in gaining knowledge. “Only giving information is not the ultimate goal in this fast-changing world,” he said. “India is trying to be world class in the field of sports, culture, knowledge, agriculture and industry. In this fast-changing world, the media has an important role to play,” he said, adding, “People are not interested in who said what, but in knowledge.”

Winners of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence In Journalism Awards for 2022 with Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways; Viveck Goenka, Chairman, The Indian Express Group; Anant Goenka, Executive Director, The Indian Express Group; and Justice B N Srikrishna, jury member, in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)

Gadkari recalled the days of the Emergency and how that phase impacted his life. “On June 25, 1975, when the Emergency was imposed, many people from my family were arrested under the MISA,” he said.

“Those two years were a very painful phase. That’s when I decided I will work against the Emergency,” he said. “Newspapers were censored at the time and Ramnath Goenka had to pay a price for his struggle against the Emergency. Goenka became a symbolic inspiration for all of us in the struggle against Emergency.”

“For all of us, ethics versus convenience is an issue that confuses our personality, be it in any field, politics or journalism. But Goenka stayed with democracy for the sake of his principles despite having to pay a price,” he said, adding, “I wouldn’t have come in politics but for the Emergency period.”

“When the river flows in one direction, all the dead fish and waste flows with it, but the fish that is alive tries to swim against the tide. That’s what defines Ramnath Goenka,” he said.

“Beyond economic progress, convictions and principles are also important to live by in a democracy,” Gadkari said. “We are for modernisation, but there is a difference between modernisation and Westernisation.”

At the 17th edition of Ramnath Goenka Awards for Excellence in Journalism, winners of 44 awards across print, broadcast and digital mediums were felicitated.

Instituted by the Ramnath Goenka Memorial Foundation, the awards acknowledged and honoured the best of journalism, showcasing outstanding contributions from print, digital and broadcast journalists across 13 categories including investigative journalism, sports, politics and government, books, feature writing and regional languages.

Speaking at the event, Viveck Goenka, Chairman of The Indian Express Group, said, “Nothing renews journalism more powerfully than celebrating this each year. And more so as we head into the general elections. The pursuit of excellence becomes incumbent on us because it’s our duty to ensure that the citizens’ right to know is addressed in a manner that’s fair and accurate.”

“Nitin Gadkari has spelled out his governance vision: doing work for those who voted for you and also for those who didn’t. This is democracy,” he said, “because after elections are over, we can have matbhed but not manbhed.”

“These words couldn’t ring louder as we head into elections for they also define the attributes of the space that facilitates good journalism — going where the story takes you, not letting how you vote decide how you report,” Goenka said.

Pointing out that as many as 1,313 applications were received this year, a record in the last 18 years of the award, The Indian Express Chief Editor Raj Kamal Jha said, “This gives us hope when everyday we hear intimations of journalism’s mortality.”

Referring to a political leader who asked a reporter who his “maalik” was, Jha flagged how some media owners had “gone down on bended knee”, and their ease of doing business had trumped the “unease of doing journalism”.

“Journalism may not have the tangible appeal of sadak, bijli and paani; it may be hard to identify the labharthis (beneficiaries) of journalism, but the stories this evening tell the labh of journalism,” he said.

Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express Group, presented a memento to Gadkari.

Those present at the event included political leaders across party lines — Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena, BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, JDU leader K C Tyagi, Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, MP Danish Ali— besides diplomats and judges.

Those present included India Today Group’s Aroon Purie and Kalli Purie, former AMU V-C and BJP MLC Tariq Mansoor, former Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Ahmad Zaidi, Google Head of News Partnerships in India Durga Raghunath, Newslaundry founder and journalist Madhu Trehan, Press Trust of India CEO Vijay Joshi, German embassy spokesperson Sebastian Fuchs, Israel embassy spokesperson Guy Nir, US embassy media advisor Raja Bhattacharya and diplomats from Russia.

The jury for the 17th edition of the awards comprised Justice B N Srikrishna, jurist and former judge, Supreme Court of India; Prof. (Dr) C Raj Kumar, Founding Dean, Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) and Director, International Institute for Higher Education Research and Capacity Building (IIHEd); Dr S Y Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India; and K G Suresh, Vice Chancellor of Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal.

Past chief guests at the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards have included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, former Presidents Pratibha Patil, A P J Abdul Kalam and Ram Nath Kovind and former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, among others.