THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Social changes have invariably taken place in the world through upheavals, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said on Wednesday in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala women’s entry and subsequent protests. Speaking after distributing media awards instituted by the Kerala Legislative Assembly, he said changes are never supported by the mainstream society initially.
The memory of the renaissance movement in Kerala is not something that begs mere rumination. The media, in general, had approached the Sabarimala issue on a positive note. During the mid-August floods, the media in Kerala became a model for media the world over through “positive journalism”, he said.
State Assemblies are not merely conventional venues for transacting legislative business, but they should also strive to generate awareness about democracy and inculcate democratic values in the younger generation, he said.
He presented the G Karthikeyan Award (print media) instituted by the Assembly to P S Ramshad, senior correspondent of Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika, a sister concern of Express. Ariyuka, Audyogikamalla Malayala Bhasha published in the May 2017 edition of the weekly won Ramshad the award. Sajeesh K of Media One TV won the award in the visual media category. Shebin Mehboob of Madhyamam weekly won the R Sankaranarayanan Thampi Media Award in the print category and Ullasan P (Ullasan Mavilayi) of MediaOne TV in the visual media category. V S Rajesh of Kerala Kaumudi won the E K Nayanar Award in the print category and P R Praveena of Asianet News in the visual media category.
The Speaker also inaugurated the 2018 batch of the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training under the Assembly. Deputy Speaker V Sasi and Assembly secretary V K Babu Prakash also spoke.