GDCT MEDIA FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 2005

GDCT MEDIA FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 2005 The Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust Excellence in Research, Investigations and Reporting on Tribal Identity of Gujjars, Democracy and Development The Gurjar Desh Charitable Trust, a multi-disciplinary non-governmental Human Development initiative based at Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) has planned a media fellowship program for young, entry level to mid career, sensitive and professionally committed journalists keen to develop a deep insight into the social, cultural and economic mosaic of Jammu and Kashmir. The fellowship will allow them to take time off their routine beats to research and publish articles/photo-essays on the issues concerning less privileged, that need to be high on the national agenda but do not find mention there for a variety of reasons. The fellowships are designed to support pursuits of in-depth, creative field research on these concerning the marginalized tribe of Gujjars and writing about their issues with adequate evidence -qualitative and quantitative -to impact and influence the public policy and the domain of political, social, economic and cultural consciousness The program encourages innovative, multi-disciplinary, theoret ical engagements and research on the issues that emerge on the intersection of discourses on tribal identity of Gujjars and the social transformation. These include: Human Security Education Healthcare Economic Security Cultural, Ethnic Identity -contexts and threats Political Participation The focus, however, on the projects that explore the interface between tribal identity and these issues within the terrain of contemporary social structure and non-traditional formulations of security. The fellowships are an important step towards encouraging professionally organized work on identity of the Gujjars in Jammu and Kashmir. The scheme is meant for the perceptive and far-sighted professionals who seek to bring important questions of tribal identity -threats and security -to their work on pol