(भारतीय पत्रकार संघ ने प्रधानमंत्री को पत्र लिख कर आग्रह किया है कि अखबारों के लिए डी ए वी पी द्वारा विज्ञापन दर में बढ़ोतरी कर दी गयी है लेकिन पत्रकारों के लिए वेज बोर्ड लागू नहीं हो पाया है ....कृपया इसे लागू करवाया जाए । ...........प्रधानमंत्री को लिखे पत्र को यहाँ दिया जा रहा है --संपादक )
The Indian Journalists Union, the premier organization of the working journalists in the country, has urged upon the Government to link its proposed hike in the interim rates for DAVP advertisements to the implementation of the Wage Board by the newspaper employers.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the IJU President S N Sinha and Secretary General D Amar, stated they were pleased to learn that the Government has decided to increase the interim rates for DAVP advertisements by 19 per cent in view of the general price rise in the country. This will greatly help small and medium newspapers, in particular, whose employees, including journalists, are not being paid even their due wages under the Wage Board awards notified in Gazette notification vide S.O. no. 2532 (E) dated 11th November, 2011. Since this increase is only an “interim” one, it is likely to be revised further in due course.
The IJU noted that in increasing these rates, the Government obviously takes into consideration the possible impact of the inflationary pressures on the wage and salary bills of the newspapers, but they do not pay even the statutorily-fixed wages to their employees. It would be in the fitness of things, therefore, for the Government to ensure that this increase in rates is shared by the employers with the journalist and non-journalist employees as well, it stressed.
Accordingly, it drew the attention of the Prime Minister to what Meghalaya was doing in the matter. The IJU’s Meghalaya State union has informed that Chief Minister Mukul Sangma is favourably inclined towards adopting an even-handed approach in the matter and linking the payment of these enhanced rates of payment for advertisements to the implementation of Wage Board awards by the newspapers.
The IJU requested the Prime Minister to kindly appreciate the gravity of the situation from the point of view of the employees of these establishments, too, and make the payment of these higher advertisement rates conditional upon the implementation of the Wage Board awards. This, said the IJU, will go a long way in promoting the implementation of the Wage Board awards in the newspaper industry, which, indeed, is a responsibility of the Union Government.(Press Note ,datead 11-12-2013)
