Science Communication/Journalism in India

Dear All,

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt of India is thinking of revamping and rejuvenating Journalism courses all across the country and the way journalism courses are taught in India. For those Indian colleagues & friends who are members of PCST community, and are serving at various levels in both academia as well as administration, it is a good opportunity to make a good case for Science Communication/ Science Journalism and creating a space for it in Indian Journalism, as is taught in Indian universities and communication institutes.

Right now overall situation of science communication/science journalism in India is not very good when it comes to academics or teaching. Very few (two or three) regular universities in India have a course on Science Communication or Science Journalism. Just to give an example there are almost 5-6 universities in New delhi alone and many more Communication institutes and colleges and not even a single university or college has a science Communication/science journalism or for that matter environmental journalism as a regular course or even a special paper. I hope those friends and colleagues in India who have presence in this network and are serving at various positions both in academia as well as administration, read this mail and take some real action in this regard.

Rayees