DELHI : IFWJ Two States conference

Indian Federation of Working Journalists's  Secretary General Mr. Pramanand Panday Inform to All  journalists, Presidents and General Secretaries of the state units, Working Committee Members and Office Bearers of the IFWJ.
Last week two state units of the IFWJ namely, Assam Union of Working Journalists (AUWJ) and Karnataka Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) organised their state conference in Guwahati and Mangalore respectively. In the KUWJ state-level meeting more than one thousand journalists working for the various media organisations in different districts of the state participated in a two-day conference on 7th and 8th March. It was inaugurated by the state Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan, in the hallowed presence of Dharmasthala’s Jain priest D. Birendra Hegde.
Dharmasthala is a unique Jain Temple, which is situated in Dakshin Kannada Districts on the banks of the Netrawathy River. It is managed by Jains but poojas are performed by Hindu priests of Madhvacharya bhaktamargis, signifying the outstanding blend of the Hindu and Jain culture. In the temple, a Jain Teerthankar besides Lord Manjunath (Lord Shiva) is placed and the priests are Vaishnawite Brahmins. The guardians of the temple are Heggdes (Jains).  The State conference was attended among others by the IFWJ President B.V. Mallikarjunaiah, Secretary of the Confederation of Asian Journalists Union, Madan Gowda and the undersigned the Secretary-General of the IFWJ, Somshekhar Gandhi, Member IFWJ Working Committee and NC members- K Satyanarayana and Satyanaraina M Ramanna. KUWJ President Shivananda Tagaduru presided over the meeting in the alert attendance of its Secretary Neelesh.
The young Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan in his inaugural speech underlined the freedom of speech and expression and assured that his government would see to it that the freedom of journalists was, in no way, compromised. Their safety and security would be taken full care of and they would continue to get all facilities for carrying out their work objectively and fearlessly. Swami Birendra Hegde blessed the journalists and exhorted them to work for the benefit of society and protection for the culture of the country. IFWJ President B.V. Mallikarjunaiah informed about the activities of the organisation and said that the IFWJ, as always, would continue to be in the vanguard of protecting the interests of the working journalists. The KUWJ President Shivananda Tagaduru presented a report on the organisational activities of the KUWJ. H.B. Madan Gowda asked the journalists to remain united. IFWJ Secretary-General informed  that a comprehensive memorandum and representation had been submitted to the Union Government particularly; to the Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour  Bhartruhari Mahtab for expanding the scope of the Working Journalists Act so as to bring the web and audio-visual journalists in its ambit. Many sessions on different media-related topics were the hallmarks of the conference.
AUWJ State Conference
The AUWJ meeting held at Guwahati on 7th March was inaugurated by Shri Sanjay Kishan, the Labour Minister of Assam. The Minister emphasised that the rights of the journalists must be safeguarded and said that all benefits and the dues would be given to them. All-Assam Media Workers Union also participated in the conference. The Labour Minister told the gathering of the media employees that he had already instructed the officers to ascertain the implementation of the Majithia Wage Board recommendations. He promised that he would hold the departmental meeting for ensuring the implementation of the Majithia Awards. The President of the AUWJ Keshav Kalita and it's General Secretary Shri Tutumoni Phukan outlined the objects and activities of the union. Senior lawyer of the Guwahati High Court Santanu Bortharkur also spoke at length in the meeting and informed the members about the legal battle that the union had waged for the implementation of the Majithia Award. Among others, who attended the meeting were the President of the All Assam Media Works Union, Sudipta Sarkar. President of the Assam Tribune Employees Union Shiva Prasad Deka. They emphasised for the unity of the journalists and non-journalists to avail the benefits to which they were entitled under the existing laws.
Madras High Court Chided the Proliferation of Journalist organisations
The High Court of Madras has expressed anguish over the mushroom growth and proliferation of the letterhead unions in the state. The proliferation of the unions has been responsible for the weakening and diluting the rights of the freedom of speech and expression, which were enshrined in the Constitution. The High Court has specifically directed the government to ensure that fake, flimsy and fictitious unions and bodies of the journalists should be discouraged because they create obstructions in the healthy growth of the journalism.
UP Working Journalists Union
UPWJU is soon going to start a membership drive throughout the state. In this process, many districts units have already been set up afresh. The Convenor of the UPWJU, Bhaskar Dube and the IFWJ Secretary Siddharth Kalhans are engaged in enrolling the members in different districts under the guidance of the IFWJ Vice-President Hemant Tiwari. The Working Committee member of the IFWJ Sanjay Dwivedi has been given the responsibility of membership drive in Varanasi, Mirzapur and Prayagraj Divisions.
Organisational Setup of the UJA and Madhya Pradesh
In Odisha the Utkal Journalists Association (UJA), President   Bibhuti Bhusan Kar, who is also the Vice-President of the IFWJ, has been touring all the districts of the state and holding meetings for strengthening the organisation. It is because of his tireless efforts that no other journalist organisation, apart from the UJA, has been able to get even any toehold in the state.
Senior journalist of Bhopal, Awadhesh Bhargav has informed us that the Madhya Bharat Working Journalists Union affiliated to the IFWJ has taken up the fight on behalf of the working journalists of the state against the ill-treatment to the journalists and discriminatory policies of the state government against many media organisations.
Confederation of Asian Journalists Union (CAJU)
Confederation of Asian Journalists Union has expressed its shock and dismay over the announcement of the closure of the Australian Associated Press (AAP) from June this year. A joint press statement was issued by its President Muditha Kariyakawana and its Secretary-General Parmanand Pandey simultaneously in India and Sri Lanka, which has been widely covered by the media, decrying the announcement of the closure of the 85 years old news agency.  The CAJU has asked the management to desist from taking such a drastic step as it would render hundreds of journalists and non-journalists jobless.  This news agency was started by the Australian media Mughal, Rupert Murdoch and presently it is owned by his son Kieth Murdoch. It may be mentioned that many newspapers and channels of Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, England, Germany and France have been bought over by this media predator. Late Rupert Murdoch was also trying to take over many newspapers and news channels in India also, but it was thwarted due to the stiff opposition from different corners.
the Working Journalists Act, which was enacted with great fanfare some 65 years ago in 1955 was a revolutionary act by all means but with the growth of audio-visual media and internet, it has now been relegated to a very insignificant position. This has been the reason for our demand for the comprehensive amendment in the Working Journalists Act to include the audio-visual and web-journalists in the Working Journalists Act. Our demand is also to replace the existing Press Council Act with the Media Council Act to make it a more representative organisation. But unfortunately, instead of amending the Working Journalists Act and enacting the Media Council Act, the government has decided, for the unknown reasons, to repeal the Working Journalists Act lock, stock and barrel. and amalgamate with many other Acts to convert into a Code Bill. We have to remain united to ensure that the Working Journalists Act is not abrogated but comprehensively amended.
We are happy to tell you that we have been getting support many Members of Parliament, cutting across the party lines, in our fight for the amendment of the Working Journalists Act.