Okhla Headlines: Need of the Community and People at large
By Mohammad Aleem
Today is the birthday of a new news portal, www.okhlaheadlines.com. Today India is also celebrating its 66th Republic Day with much fanfare and glory with the most powerful leader of the world, Mr. Barak Husain Obama, the honorable President of America.
This is very significant in the sense that it not only fills with the pride that we are living in an independent country with full freedom of speech, but also it provides us an opportunity to live a dignified life.
However, we should not feel shy to admit that not everything is good in this country, especially, with the largest minority community, Muslims. To live in a place where mostly Muslims live doesn’t make still proud to many of us. They want to go to live somewhere else where they can live a life as a distinguished and privileged citizen. Our brothers from the majority community also don’t take it much in positive way. I do remember one of my filmmaker friends, Mr. Atul Panday, who once advised me to come out from that ghetto and start a new life. But, is it easy for people like us to go to any other place and live as my influential and rich Hindu brothers are living.
Reasons are many and it can’t be analyzed here in this small piece of the writing. And the occasion also doesn’t allow doing so.
I am talking about the inaugural function of the Okhlaheadline.com. The question, then, comes easily into mind that why a new news portal if there are millions of others in existence.
The answer is that as a small community of this city and the country and the world at large, we need our own forum and platform to raise our voices and concerns. Most of the august speakers, like, Mr. Anil Anand, Business Head Zee Salaam, Abudur Rasheed Agwan, convener, Volunteers of Change, Md. Akmal Shareef, Country Head Islamic Relief India, Syed Abdullah Asim, Executive Director, Bonton Holidays Pvt ltd., Mumtaz Alam Falahi. Editor, India Tomorrow, Sohail Razzaq, Country Head, Indo food CBP, Ershad Ahmed, OSD Election Commission of India, Shahabuddin Yaqub, Chief Editor OkhlaHeadlines.com, Abdul Kalaam, Ex CMD Coal of India, who spoke on the occasion, highlighted the need of the community based newspapers and portals. It makes not only the feeble voices heard by others, but also makes people empowered in a great way.
This is the sole purpose for which this portal has been launched by the very dynamic and versatile, Shahabuddin Yaqoob with the generous help of some of his close friends and well wishers.
The success of any program depends on the number of attendance of the audience. And this program was very successful in that way. The conference room, where it was organized, was jam-packed and many visitors had to content themselves by sitting outside of the venue.
Most of the members of the audience were either from media or public life. And the lively discussion around the need of the community news portal filled them with awe and admiration towards its founder.
Most of the august speakers spoke about the need of such platforms and the effectiveness of such mediums. They posed their confidence that this unique news portal will help people in standing against many ills and odds of the society like dowry, corruption, ill practices and above all empowering the people in a great way.
Zee Salam, a very popular news channel among Muslims all over the world has agreed to work as a media partner. It gives a kind of confidence that if a channel like Zee Salam comes to help this news portal, then, it will get to be known and recognized to a wider audience in no time.
Visit this site and make yourself also an integral part of this wonderful medium.