NEW DELHI: Former deputy director general of Doordarshan and a veteran in educational television Jai Chandiram died this morning aged 75.

She had been battling cancer of the colon for some months. Chandiram is survived by her brother and two sisters.

Less than a fortnight before she passed away, Chandiram was awarded the lifetime achievement award by the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT), whose Indian chapter she headed for many years. The IAWRT annually organised a film festival to coincide with the International Women’s Day.

 jai Chandiram started her career as a producer in Doordarshan and retired as Deputy Director General. Doordarshan.  She received her Masters Degree from the School of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, Gainesville.  Her experiences in media covers production, training and management. Her main area of work has been on children, education, distance learning, gender and developmental issues.

 

She has headed several media centers in India and Asia – Head, Department of Television at the Film and Television Institute, Pune Television Consultant at the Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting and Development, (AIBD), Kuala Lumpur. During this period she provided training to the broadcasting organizations in the Asia Pacific region. The audio video resource kit on gender, “Into Focus,Changing Media Images of Women in Asia,”, was a path breaker and continues to be widely used in many countries. She is a regular participant and contributor to Asia Media Summit on issues of gender, children and training the Central Institute of Education (CIET-NCERT) Educational Media Production Center, Indira Gandhi National Open University (EMPCIGNOU) Chief consultant for CEMCA and author of the “Manual on Teleconferencing” (with an accompanying CD). Initiated radio programs for the start of Gyan Vani, IGNOU, in collaboration with AIR Bhopal, Executive Director Media, at the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) where she produced several documentaries and programs on arts and artists. These have been screened at the JDCA Film Forum Festival, Bhubaneshwar.

 

Director of Doordarshan Delhi

Director of Doordarshan, Ahmedabad

Director of Doordarshan, Central Production Center

Started the Third Channel of Doordarshan, which concentrated on the arts

Retired as Deputy Director General, Doordarshan

Director, “Beyond 60”, a series for Tara Television

 

Jai Chandiram has been Advisor to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for Mana TV, the

bouquet of Educational Channels. She recently did a Report on SIET Hyderabad : The Road

Ahead.

 

She has been a jury member for many national and international organizations, including

NHK (Japan), IAWRT Awards, Doordarshan, CEC. She has also been a jury member at the

national level for many organizations.

 

She has been on the media advisory and task forces for various Ministries andorganizations dealing with Family Welfare, Health, HIV-AIDS, Leprosy, Biodiversity, CIET , NLM

etc.

She is also Trainer Consultant, Princess Diana Leprosy Mission Trust

Examiner, Jamia Millia Institute for Mass Communication.

Consultant and Trainer, Commonwealth of Learning for National Institute of Teachers and other media centers in Nigeria and WOU, Malaysia.

For UNESCO, Jai Chandiram and Ammu Joseph did a needs study on the training of journalists in Sri Lanka.

She has been the President of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television

(IAWRT) for two terms and is currently the Managing Trustee, IAWRT – India Chapter.

For the last five years, IAWRT India Chapter has organized the Asian Women’s Film

Festival. This festival has travelled to many cities in India.

Till September 2008 she was Executive Director, Fortune Institute of Communications and Television.

Till recently she was Media Advisor, DEP-SSA IGNOU.