Press Statement

IJU welcomes Union Minister of Labour’s statement on Working Journalists Act

19 Apr, 2017

The Indian Journalists Union (IJU), the premier and most representative organization of working journalists in the country, welcomed the statement ofUnion Minister for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya that the electronic media journalists would be brought under the ambit of Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employee (Service and other miscellaneous Provisions) Act (WJA) by suitable amending it.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) President S N Sinha, Secretary-General Amar Devulapali and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Vice President Sabina Inderjit recalled that Bandaru Dattatreya assured the Plenary Session of the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) held at Bhubaneswar in May 2015 that union government would amend the Worlding Journalists Act to confer the status of Working Journalists on journalists working in electronic media.

“We are happy that the Union Labor Ministry has initiated steps to fulfill the promise of Bandaru Dattatreya. We urge upon the Union Labor Minister to bring in necessary amendments to Working Journalists Act in the monsoon session of Parliament,” the IJU leaders said.

“The IJU urged upon the government to amend the Press Council of India Act to bring in electronic media under its superintendence by renaming it as Media Council along with amendements to the Working Journalists Act,” the statmenet said.