Foreword

With this January – March 2026 issue, JYANAVI completes one meaningful year of scholarly journey and confidently steps into its second year of publication. The past year has been a period of careful nurturing of ideas, disciplines, and dialogues, and we are grateful to our contributors, reviewers, and readers who have believed in the journal’s vision of fostering rigorous, inclusive, and interdisciplinary scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.

The present issue reflects the intellectual maturity that JYANAVI has steadily cultivated. The contributions assembled here span media studies, education, technology, literature, gender studies, cultural analysis, environmental sustainability, law, and public health, demonstrating the journal’s commitment to plural perspectives and contemporary relevance.

Several articles critically engage with media, representation, and culture, such as analyses of Indian tea and coffee advertising, lesbian visibility in OTT Hindi content, parasocial relationships in podcast listening, and resistance and women’s agency in Shyam Benegal’s cinema. These studies collectively foreground the evolving dynamics of identity, visibility, and narrative power in Indian and global media landscapes.

Equally significant are the works that examine education and pedagogy in transition, from B.Ed. internship experiences and technology-enhanced distance education to student perceptions of AI in educational communication. In a time when artificial intelligence and digital platforms are reshaping learning environments, these studies offer grounded insights that bridge theory, practice, and policy.

The issue also features interdisciplinary and methodologically innovative research, including a Google Trends analysis of post-COVID consumer interest in immunity-boosting herbal beverages, an AHP-based study on carbon footprint reduction in media institutes, and a comprehensive survey on health and disinformation. Such contributions reaffirm the role of media research as a vital tool for understanding societal challenges and enabling informed decision-making.

Literary and cultural scholarship finds strong representation through explorations of Easterine Kire’s fiction, transcultural cinematic adaptation, and a critical book review on modernist Persian influences surrounding the Iranian Revolution. The inclusion of media analysis as a tool for Indological research further underscores JYANAVI’s openness to innovative theoretical frameworks rooted in Indian and global knowledge traditions.

As JYANAVI enters its second year, we reaffirm our commitment to academic integrity, critical inquiry, and interdisciplinary dialogue. We aspire to strengthen the journal’s scholarly reach, encourage emerging researchers alongside established scholars, and contribute meaningfully to debates that matter in academia and society alike.

We thank all our authors for entrusting us with their work, our reviewers for their thoughtful and rigorous evaluations, and our readers for their continued engagement. We look forward to your support as JYANAVI continues its journey as a vibrant platform for ideas, inquiry, and intellectual exchange.

Prof. Neelima B. N.

Editor