North East Union of Working Journalists lauds Assam Minister
Source: The Sangai Express
Dimapur, February 09 2017:
The North East Union of Working Journalists (NEUWJ) has applauded the "pro-media" budgetary allocation in Assam and appreciated Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for allocating various financial provisions for the benefit of scribes and media houses in the State.
The North East Union of Working Journalists also appealed to other State Governments of the alienated region to come forward and support the fraternity.
In may be mentioned that placing the annual budget in the State Legislative Assembly on February 7, Sarma proposed to launch the pension scheme for scribes and journalist family welfare funds from 2017-18 onwards, NEUWJ said.
Pointing out that many journalists dedicated their lives to serve the public and need financial security after their retirement, the State Finance Minister proposed to constitute the journalist pension scheme in the line of litterateur, artist/artiste and sportspersons' monthly retirement benefits, it added.
Recognizing the critical role of professional journalism in social advancement, Sarma also proposed for journalist family welfare fund for providing suitable financial assistance to the bereaved family members of journalists who lost their lives while in service, the NEUWJ also said.
He also announced a media fellowship of Rs 50,000 to interested journalists for pursuing higher studies in the field of journalism.
Twenty fellowships would be awarded in the year 2017-18 and guidelines of all these schemes would be prepared by the State Information & Public Relations Department.
Asserting that the Government has already released around Rs 22 crore till January 31, 2017 to clear the huge pending advertisement bills in various media outlets, Sarma announced to streamline the mechanism of making payment of advertisement bills regularly.
"Expressing happiness over the proposals, we urge the State Information & Public Relations Department to formulate the guidelines properly.
We would also like to appeal to the department to include all working journalists, irrespective of IPR recognition, with few years of uninterrupted experience in Assam," said the statement issued by NEUWJ.