NOB- Kolkata news: Several national journalists’ associations have demanded the central government to set up a new wage board for better wages for journalists and non-journalistic staff across the country. They demanded to include print media journalist as well as electronic, web and social media journalists in the new wage board.National Confederation of Journalists comprising Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ), PTI Employees Unions Federation, National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and others during the conclusion of the two-day national working committee meetings of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ) in Kolkata on 18.03.2024. A meeting of organizations was held.

Around two hundred representatives from various states across the country participated in this meeting. Many issues were discussed at length. The meeting demanded that the Working Journalists Act of 1955 should be amended and print media as well as electronic, web and social media should be brought under the ambit of the law. The meeting demanded implementation of wage board for part-time reporters and rural journalists and job security for journalists. Alleging that media organizations in many states across the country are firing journalists illegally and, the conference strongly condemned these illegal firings. The meeting decided to form a National Legal Council to fight legal action against illegal evictions. It was decided to hand over pending illegal dismissal cases of journalists and wage board cases to the legal council.

They demanded that a media council should be established at the national level in place of the press council, and the media council should be empowered to represent various national level journalists’ associations. The conference asked the central government to enact a special law for the protection of journalists. Similarly, the conference demanded to bring a pension system for journalists at the national level and establish a journalist welfare fund in various states. In this meeting, the representatives of the respective states presented reports on the problems of journalists in different states. IFWJ Secretary Pulipalupula Anandya and State President of Telangana Working Journalists Federation Mamidi Somaiya reported on various problems faced by journalists in Telangana state, status of rural journalists, attacks on journalists etc., IFWJ Secretary General Vipin Dhulia, NUG President Ashok Malik, Secretary General Sharma PTI Employees Federation President Indukant Dixit, General Secretary Balram Singh Dahiya, IFWJ Vice Presidents Vishwadev Rao, Mohan Kumar, Santhosh Chaturvedi, Atul Pal, Vijay Pal (Tripura) were present in this meeting. Santosh Madhukar (Bihar) and others participated. After the meetings, the representatives of the journalist associations visited the Press Trust of India (PTI) office in Kolkata.