IRNA for rural news coverage in India

Lucknow, Sep 14 (UNI) To focus on the lives and difficulties of the Indian farmers, a news agency -- Indian Rural News Agency (IRNA) -- was launched here today.

The news agency would not only inform the readers about the farmers and their problems but would also help the rural poor, senior journalist P K Rai said.

Presently, just 20 per cent of the total news was on rural areas whereas it should be at least 50 per cent, he added.

After the ceremony, a seminar was also organised, in which senior journalists Surendra Dubey, Raveendra Singh, Yogesh Mishra, Pramod Goswami, Suresh Bahadur Singh and Praduman Tiwari noted that the agricultural land should be not be turned into Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and agricultural trade be saved from middlemen.

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