People's Democracy

Labour Minister’s Assurance To The DUJ Delegation 

THE union labour minister K Chandrasekhar Rao assured a delegation of the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) on August 30 that he would look into the various grievances of the journalists and take immediate steps to redress them.

The minister had invited the delegation after several hundred journalists and non-journalists held a demonstration in front of the labour ministry at Shram Shakti Bhavan, New Delhi. 

The delegation submitted a charter of long-pending demands to the minister. The demands included announcement of a new wage board, constitution of a media commission, immediate reinstatement of 400 illegally sacked Hindustan Times workers and release of dues of over 300 workers of Patriot, founded by legendary freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali.

The other demands raised by the delegation during its 45-minute meeting with the minister included risk insurance cover at the centre, state and newspaper level for all journalists and amendment of the Working Journalists Act to cover all journalists whether in print or electronic or web media.

The delegation comprised DUJ president S K Pande, DUJ general aecretary Javed Faridi, Patriot Union president Raj Kumar and Anand Prakash Sharma, Rita Toteja and Dinesh Chandra.

The meeting with the minister was second in the series. On August 27, DUJ had submitted a memorandum to the prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on same demands. The PM gave a patient hearing and promised to consider the issues raised by the union. He also expressed concern at the plight of workers of Patriot and Link newspapers. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and MP Sitaram Yechury who was present with the prime minister at the time of this meeting also asked Dr Manmohan Singh to provide relief to starving journalists of Patriot and to look into the demand for media commission and other connected issues.

The demonstration on August 30 was preceded by a meeting at the Constitution Club which was addressed by, among others, Delhi CITU secretary Mohan Lal, Press Club secretary-general Chitrita Sanyal and union leaders of various newspaper workers. The journalists also observed solidarity day. Wearing black badges, they protested against state repression of newspersons within the country and in Nepal.

GUJARAT GOVT ACTION CONDEMNED

The Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) condemned the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat for setting the Anti-Terrorist Squad on a journalist for asking questions of a BJP MLA about a land scam. In a statement on August 26, the union termed it “a blatant attack on the freedom of the press”.
 
Although the matter was subsequently dropped by the Anti-Terrorist Squad on the ground that there was nothing offensive in the journalist’s action, the chief minister’s blatant attempt to browbeat and harass the television journalist to force him to desist from exposing the scam is highly objectionable, it stated. 

The clarification by the Director-General Anti-Terrorist Squad that the reference came from “the CMO and it does not mean the chief minister himself”, is insufficient to absolve the chief minister of what is being done in his name from his office. 

The DUJ demanded from the government of Gujarat a public apology for this act of terror against media persons. It called upon media bodies to take serious note of this matter and condemn such high-handedness of the Narendra Modi administration.  (INN)