Parvasi Newspaper Punjabi Newspaper
Parvasi Newspaper and media group is known in Punjabi community for its journalism of social commitments and courage. Parvasi was the first Punjabi newspaper in North America to change the face of Punjabi media from journalism of cut and paste to journalism of investigation. Parvasi has a powerful team of media professionals in India as well as in Canada. The kind of journalism started by Parvasi was recognized by some independent bodies also. Notable among them is Peel Regional Police’s Best Ethnic Media Award. This award was given to Parvasi consecutively for two years in 2006 and 2007.
Award in 2006 was given on a Parvasi Report that highlights the problem of Poppy Husk. Poppy Husk is not enlisted in banned drug items as per the Canadian Anti-Drug laws. But in Punjabi community Poppy ( Dode) is among the highly used drug items. Opium is derived from poppy plants. After the Parvasi story highlighted this loophole in Canadian laws, Canadian agencies took note of this to deal the issue in their anti-drug comaigns. This story was done by a young and talented journalist Tarvinder Ubhi. The story was chosen as the Best Ethnic Media news story of year 2006 by Peel Region Police.
In year 2007 Parvasi was again awarded Best Ethnic Media Award for a story ‘ Punjabi Underworld’. The story highlights the problem of rising gang war and violence in second generation of Punjabi youth in GTA region. This story was done by a team of reporters and social analysts comprising of Tarvinder Ubhi, Raj Jhajj, Balkar Singh Bajwa, Dr Jaswinder Sandhu and Gurbax Singh Bhandal.
On the occasion of Baisakhi of 2008 Parvasi released a special anniversary issue dedicated to the life and struggle of Punjabis inCanada. The special issue traces the 100 years of Punjabis in Canadabeginning with historical incident of Kamagata Maru. This 80 page issue was released by former federal minister of Canada and well known Punjabi personality Ujjal Dosanh during third Parvas Awards Show.