Submitted by crinadmin on
Summary: Gujarat Social Forum 2006 (GSF-2006) was held from 10th to 12th March at Ahmedabad. Over 8000 people from 150 organisations from all over Gujarat participated. In the GSF-2006 all together 130 seminars/workshops and four plenary were held on issues as diverse as women and marginalized communities like Dalits, adivasis etc, and youth issues like unemployment, communalism. In this workshop the participants tried to understand the influence of today's media on the youth of this generation. It was generally felt that the mainstream media ignored critical youth issues like unemployment. Also the media gave less space for younger generation. Thus, the media appeared to focus more on glamour diverting the youth away from the realities of their lives. 50 youth groups from different organisations attended the workshop, and felt that the media can play an important role in bringing awareness through the dissemination of information. There appears to be a need to develop and bring about alternative media outlets like magazines, newslettes etc so that these would reach a larger number of youth. It was believed that by doing so the present generation could be better empowered to take advantage of the opportunities that ought to be available for them. Mr. Vijay Bharatiya conducted the workshop.
In GSF-2006 the Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) organised the workshop on "Understanding and Exploring: Youth & Media" on March 12, 2006.