Digital Discourse Foundation is a slow journalism initiative in political ecology.
We are dedicated to propagating inclusive development.

Genesis of Digital Discourse Foundation 

Digital Discourse Foundation is the cumulative result of decades of footwork in journalism. When I sought Government of India funding for the book research of Preparing for the Day After I was advised by – senior scientists and technocrats - to found a Media Not for profit. Given the insights gained about SDGs for instance, scientific applications for disaster mitigation, and inclusive development paradigms, during book research the flow of content as well as the structure for new media content creation was a natural corollary.

Digital Discourse Foundation or DDF for short is a not for profit Company registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act (2013) in India. DDF is thus a result of decades of field research in the fields of environmental and wildlife conservation, Biodiversity, Indigenous People and traditional wisdom, Transparent Governance, Solid Waste Management, Climate Change, Public Health, Mental Health, Gender issues, Nutrition and so on… SDGs, sustainable solutions, Climate activism / Climate Change Adaptation...

We profess core competence in communication campaigns espousing the above causes and will syndicate this content on a not for profit basis with a Creative Commons Share Alike License 3.0 & 4.0. 

Mission Statement

Digital Discourse Foundation seeks to mainstream the development agenda by putting green administration on the political table… we call it political ecology. Digital Discourse Foundation is a slow journalism initiative - poles apart from the world of minute by minute and rather sensational reporting. We thrive and we excel in chewing the news, marinating its fallout and help the end user digest it. For example best practices in solid waste management, sequestering carbon through separation of wastes, or we make you laugh at the attempts at forest conservation… we help you understand the complications of insulin resistance to beat Diabetes… and so on…

We may have to drive home the point through Satire or through campaigns, or through book readings and interactive sessions … using the communication channels through new media tools… that’s the Mantra!

Who we are:

Digital Discourse Foundation is run by Malini Shankar and Rajeev Yeshwanth – the two founding directors. Malini Shankar and Rajeev Yeshwanth started their careers in journalism together back in 1991 as humble simple cub reporters in an Evening newspaper in Bangalore… such are the roots for robust growth in any field! While Malini focuses on  content creation Rajeev lends able support as the desk editor, at whose desk lies enormous responsibility of accuracy and credibility of content, eloquence of language and thought flow etc.

On the Board of Advisors of Digital Discourse Foundation are:

·         Mr. K.S.N. Chikkerur IPS., (retired) Additional Director General Of Police, Karnataka.

·         Mrs. Usha Kini IB (P)S, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India,    Head of Programme (retd), Doordarshan Kendra Bangalore

·         Professor Janki Andharia, Dean, School of Disaster Studies, TISS, Mumbai

·         Dr. (Mrs.) Shakunthala Sridhara, Retired Agricultural Research Scientist, & Member Board of Governors of University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

·         Mr. John Thekkayyam, Former Merchant Navy Officer, Fisheries and sea safety activist, Hobby filmmaker, Kollam, Kerala, India

·         Vidushi Dr. (Smt.) Suma Sudheendra, renowned Veena artiste, Bangalore.

·         Umar Manzoor Shah, Senior Journalist, Srinagar, Jammu nd Kashmir, India.

·         Abdul Rehman Pasha Filmmaker, Scholar

·         Wing Cdr. M A Afraz, Founder & Trustee, Honourpoint Foundation

·         Smt. Maya Jaideep, Filmmaker, Journalist, Bangalore.

·         M.B. Jayaram, Director of KPCL Administration &Corporate Communications (Retired)

Professionals associated with Digital Discourse Foundation:

• ·         Vinod Raja,

• ·         Alphonse Vimal Raj,

• ·         Mohan Kumar,

• ·         R. Chandrahekar,

• ·         Mahesh B,

• ·         Anuroopa T N.,

• ·         Santhosh Kamat,

• ·         Rajkumar P,

• ·         Shashidhar P,

• ·         Guruprasad Acko,

• ·         Malini Shankar,

• ·         Rajeev Yeshwanth

• ·         Hemanth Manjap.

What we do:

Digital Discourse Foundation like we have already established is a not for profit new media start up. Digital Discourse Foundation is registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013. That means we are eligible for public funding and we will justify public funding by espousing the causes mentioned below to fulfill a public cause … all in public domain. The gap we fulfill is creation of niche content of which the mainstream media is in need of:

1.   Wildlife conservation,

2.   Biodiversity,

3.   Climate Change

4.   Solid waste management

5.   Indigenous people

6.   Disaster Mitigation,

7.   Traditional Wisdom,

8.   Transparent Governance, 

9.   Public Health,

10.   Mental Health,

11.   Human Rights,

12.   Gender issues,

13.   Native Nutrition,

14.   Sustainable Solutions,

15.   Heritage Tourism,

16.   Green Satire

17.   Green literature

While the scope for developmental discourse is indeed infinite, we are passionate in espousing the above causes with tools like pen and camera while feeding these content needs of the Mainstream Media. By giving it a copyright license like Creative Commons Share Alike License 3.0 and 4.0 we enable small and large Media houses to republish, reprint, rebroadcast the content with editing rights to suit their contextual needs. 

This kind of diverse content which we will treat with utmost professional care and standards, will readily fit into the media content structure, trained as we are in our roots in mainstream media.  Professionals in DDF have had hands on experience in broadcast houses, internet portals, newsprint agencies, news agencies, advertising agencies, production houses; Television houses, photo stock agencies and book publishers. Let’s discuss an example. How do we share the magic and experience of a visit to wildlife sanctuary with a hearing impaired or visually impaired person who does not understand English? A podcast and a complementary photo blog cast in voice rendition in multilingual editions includes such differently abled brethren methinks…

Converging this experience as a leader is Malini Shankar, a physically challenged woman social entrepreneur with a three decades professional portfolio. She leads a team of diverse professionals including cinematographers, filmmakers, directors, script writers, photographers, Sound Recordists, musicians, and voice over artistes, editors, translators and so on.

The power of the Pen is indeed so mighty that it can make a difference to the lives of the Have-Nots.  Be they skilled but differently abled people without livelihood security, or the private sector offering secure livelihoods in professional ecosystems to people living with mental health issues, we at Digital Discourse Foundation know how to extrapolate issues for the inclusive benefit of society… the Common Good and General Will. 

One of our recently concluded communication campaigns documented in diverse media the success of one such grass roots project in the area of watershed management. We called it Greening a Sandscape:

Re-greening the Sandscapes Assignment Products: Our recent completed assignment

Documentaries:

English:

Re-greening a Sandscape Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HGErO1GvAE&t=3s

Re-greening the Sandscapes PART 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3OstfFC_1E&t=5s  

Telugu

శాండ్ స్కేప్ ను రీగ్రీనింగ్ చేయడం పార్ట్ 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c53Aomo0a-M&t=393s  

శాండ్ స్కేప్ లను రీగ్రీనింగ్ చేయడం పార్ట్ 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVeGdGJlkM4&t=2s  

Kannada

ಮರುಭೂಮಿಗಳನ್ುು ಪುನ್ರುಜ್ಜೀವನ್ಗ ೂಳಿಸುವುದು ಭಾಗ 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4sIQrBMHs&t=2s  

ಮರುಭೂಮಿಗಳನ್ುು ಪುನ್ರುಜ್ಜೀವನ್ಗ ೂಳಿಸುವುದು ಭಾಗ 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRZLwCxQ7uE  

Hindi

सैंडस्केप को फिर से हरा-भरा करना तेलुगु भाग 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89W5jMP3ibU&t=4s  

ररवर्सिंग क्लाइमेट चेंज प्रेररत मरुस्थलीकरण भाग 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0tuWqD3mc  

Video Blogs:

English:

Video Blog on farm ponds, in watershed management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRvGxeHMqM0&t=60s  

Fruit orchards n horticulture plantations thy name is ground water replenishment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TWpD3sHyEY&t=9s  

Telugu:

వ్యవసాయ చెరువులపై వీడియో బ్లాగ్ 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD4EQDqZwu0&t=4s  

వ్యవసాయ చెరువులపై వీడియో బ్లాగ్ 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4a7dcrNRbM&t=1s  

Kannada:

ವೀಡಿಯೀ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ 1 ಅನಂತಪುರದಲ್ಲಾ AFEC ರಚಿಸಿದ ಫಲರ್ಮ್ ಹ ಂಡಗಳು: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHnLirpc4PQ&t=79s  

ಹಣ್ಣಿನ ತ ೀಟಗಳಲ್ಲಾ ವೀಡಿಯ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWYBmeZTBic&t=1s  

Hindi:

वीफडयो ब्लॉग 1: अनंतपुर में िामम तालाब:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbqD12E9ifs&t=1s  

वीफडयो ब्लॉग 2: वाटरशेड प्रबंधन के र्लए िलों के बाग:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y3znfzUKUs&t=5s  

English Podcasts

Dr Malla Reddy's full length interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfLA4AqZ4Sw&t=2s  

Women to the rescue during Farm Distress

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/0O7JDuPQFub  

ಕೃಷಿ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟದ ರಕ್ಷಣ ಗ ಮಹಿಳ ಯರು:

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/oxCUxXRQFub  

వ్యవసాయ కష్టాల సమయంలో రక్షించడానికి మహిళలు

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/hMJyeeWQFub  

कृषि संकट से उबारेंगी मफहलाएं

https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/ncvhEm3QFub  

Blogs:

https://capturingcurrents.blogspot.com/2022/05/successful-watershed-management-meant.html  

https://capturingcurrents.blogspot.com/2022/05/raising-ground-water-table-herculean.html  

https://capturingcurrents.blogspot.com/2022/05/blog-post.html  

https://capturingcurrents.blogspot.com/2022/05/blog-post_12.html  

https://capturingcurrents.blogspot.com/2022/05/blog-post_17.html  

https://capturingcurrents.blogspot.com/2022/05/blog-post_18.html  

https://capturingcurrents.blogspot.com/2022/05/1.html 

https://capturingcurrents.blogspot.com/2022/05/ii.html 

Photo blogs:

https://digitaldiscoursephotoblogspot.blogspot.com/2021/11/understanding-biodiversity.html 

https://digitaldiscoursephotoblogspot.blogspot.com/2021/12/watershed-management-success-story-in.html 

https://digitaldiscoursephotoblogspot.blogspot.com/2022/01/dryland-agriculture-one-way-of-climate.html 

https://digitaldiscoursephotoblogspot.blogspot.com/2022/03/indian-agricultural-horticultural.html 

https://digitaldiscoursephotoblogspot.blogspot.com/2022/04/anantapurdistricts-recovery-from.html