Journalist Welfare Scheme committee
Senior freelance journalist Umeshwar Kumar among others has been included in the re-constituted committee of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to administer journalist welfare scheme.
Journalist Welfare Scheme committee
Varanasi: Senior freelance journalist Umeshwar Kumar among others has been included in the re-constituted committee of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to administer journalist welfare scheme.
The other non-official members include Rajkishor Tiwari, editor, ABP Ganga, Santosh Thakur, deputy editor, Lokmat Newspaper Group, Sarjana Sharma, deputy editor (news), Sanmarg Hindi Daily, Amit Kumar, associate editor cum chief of bureau, News 24 TV Channel, and Ganesh Bisht, photographer, Hindustan Samachar News Agency.
The term of non-official members will be two years with effect from June 1, 2020. The committee shall meet at least once in a quarter to take decision on the cases received during the period. However, in case of urgent / emergent nature received in the ministry which require immediate financial assistance, the chairperson depending upon the urgency of the cases may convene meeting of the committee as frequently as deemed necessary.
Journalist Welfare Scheme committee
For the first time the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had reconstituted the composition of Committee on Journalist Welfare Scheme in which journalists are made members. The scheme came into force from March 28, 2018. The members of the Committee have a tenure of 2 years and shall meet once in at least once in a quarter.
The Secretary (I&B) is the ex-officio chairman of the committee, while Joint Secretary (P&A), Principal Director General, PIB are the ex-officio members.
The Committee may also suo moto take up cases for grant of financial assistance even if an application has not been received from the journalist/beneficiaries. Also, not withstanding anything contained in these guidelines, the Committee if it feels necessary in exceptional cases may recommend higher level of assistance or suggest any other deviation of the guideline for approval of the minister of Information & Broadcasting Ministry. The Ministry had increased the provision for Journalist welfare scheme by five-fold to Rs 1 crore in BE 2018-19 from Rs 20 lakh in 2017-18.
