Panchkula (Chandigarh, Haryana), Aug.4 (NSS):Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya has assured that he will take up with the Central government the IJU’s demand for revival of the Wage Board of Working Journalists. He also opined that the demand for a separate law for the safety of the working journalists was also justified. He assured that he would do his bit to solve the problems of the journalists.
Bandaru Dattatreya was the chief guest for the session held on the second day of the IJU National Council meetings held in Panchkula of the State on Sunday.
IJU national president K Srinivas Reddy presided over the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Bandaru Dattatreya said the media was the cornerstone of country’s democracy and added that democracy can flourish only if the media is strong. He said governments come and go and parties come and go, but the country was permanent and added that the democracy was the key for the development of the country. He said the country required a strong media.
He said it was the responsibility of the media to bring to the notice of the people the good and the bad that governments do. Dattatreya said he knew that even chief ministers were afraid of the journalists, who were doing journalism with commitment and used to call such journalists and discuss the issues raised by them. He said in his view, a journalist, who tells the truth, was superior to the rulers.
He said the media should work hard to tell the truth and bring the facts to light. Dattatreya recalled that investigative journalism had played an important role in bringing to light many scams, irregularities and corruption in the past. He, however, said if the facts were brought to light, the evil forces that cannot tolerate it were attacking the media. Dattatreya said a journalist has to perform his duty with fearlessness, courage and commitment to bring the truth to light.
“There is a need to provide security to journalists, who fearlessly bring to light the truth and a special law should be enacted for the safety of the journalists,” he said. He assured that he would take up the demand for a special security law with the Central government. He also said he had attended the IJU plenary in Bhubaneswar in his capacity as the Union Labour Minister and was aware of the problems of working journalists.
Dattatreya recalled that the journalists’ union leaders had brought to his notice the issue of the constitution of a wage board of the working journalists and added that he immediately convened a meeting with the representatives of the unions. Stating that the Working Journalists Act and the Wage Board of Journalists has been abolished, Dattatreya assured that there was a need to provide wage security to the working journalists.
“In recent times, with the rise of technology and the advent of artificial intelligence, the media sector has undergone drastic changes. The values are important to the media and a media without values has no credibility, a media without credibility has no respect. The journalists should give information as information and it is not a good practice to give views instead of news,” he said.
Dattatreya said he had known IJU president K Srinivasa Reddy for four-and-a-half decades and added that that he has immense respect for him as a valued journalist and a committed unionist.
K. Srinivas Reddy, who presided over the function, explained the political discourse of Bandaru Dattatreya, who started out as a common worker. “Whether he was an MP or a Union Minister and as a leader who connects with the common people without any discrimination and as a people’s representative who is always accessible to all, Dattatreya has won the respect of the people and is admired by all political parties,” he said.
IJU steering committee member Devulapalli Amar explained the popularity of the “Alayal Balai” programme organized by Bandaru Dattatreya during the Dussehra festival celebrations.
