Amity School of Communication on the 30th of March, 2016 conducted a National Seminar on ‘New Media: Emerging Trends’ in the Auditorium of the University to create a forum for discourse over this contemporary topic. Several distinguished guests from various academic backgrounds participated in the seminar to share their ideas and views on various aspects of new media, how deep it has crept into our society, how essential it has become and what further roles it is to play in the near future.

The inaugural session of the seminar saw the lighting of the lamp followed by the opening remarks by the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Lt Gen V.K. Sharma, AVSM (Retd.). General Sharma spoke about the rapidly changing face of media and the growth from the stage when there used to be only a few newspapers a few decades ago to this era where we witness the emergence and circulation of several newspapers, broadcasts by numerous TV channels and the evolvement of the recent and popularly growing new media. The session also included the key note address by eminent academician Professor B. L. Choudhury, of Vishwa Bharati University, Shantiniketan, who spoke of how the new media is significantly bringing a change in our lifestyle, our thinking and our perspectives. Ms Manisha Pathak Shelat, Associate Professor from MICA, Ahmedabad expressed her views on the paradoxes related to the New Media and the two opposite but equally possible futures that this media could bring about. The final address of Dr. Sanjeev Bhanawat, Rajasthan University enlightened the participating audience on the fact that New Media is a highly important and useful tool that needs to be used deliberately and carefully to draw maximum benefits out of it. The session ended with the book launch of 'New Media in India: Current Trends and Future Prospects'.

The post lunch sessions included two technical sessions held parallely and the valedictory function subsequently. The first technical session chaired by Dr. Surbhi Dhaiya, IIMC Delhi and Dr. Manish Verma, Amity University Rajasthan saw the paper presentations by Jaikishan Goswami from Rai University, Ranchi, Manish Dubey from Amity University Madhya Pradesh, and Shritama Mitra and Sunadit Chaudhry from West Bengal.

The second technical session chaired by Dr Anubhuti Yadav, IIMC Delhi and Dr. Neeru Johri, Jagannath Institute of Management witnessed presentations of K.K Bhattacharya from Vishwa Bharati University, Shantiniketan, Kolkata, Professor C.P. Rashmi, from Sharada University, Noida, Mr. Ankit Kumar Singh from Banaras Hindu University, and Niharika Bhowmik from Amity University Madhya Pradesh.

The valedictory session was marked by the closing remarks of Col. R.K. Dargan, Professor and Advisor, Amity University Noida and Dr. R.G. Garg, Professor, Jiwaji University. While the former drew the audience by his notes and observations on the new media and its power, the latter addressed the audience telling them that they should give more emphasis to their mother tongue in order to educate the country and to bring about digital literacy. The best paper award was given to Ankit Kumar Singh.