Guwahati: Union tourism, culture and development of north-eastern region (DoNER) minister Gangapuram Kishan Reddy recently graced the closing day function of Indian Journalists Union’s national executive meeting in Hyderabad and urged the media fraternity to play a pro-active role in the growth of Bharat. Emphasizing on presenting the news as it is (without putting views), the young BJP minister added that journalists are welcome to express views on editorial, media columns, commentary etc.
Following the request from IJU president K. Sreenivas Reddy, whom he adores as an older brother, the Union minister assured to initiate supports to corona-victims among journalists across the country and also pragmatic actions for the welfare of the media fraternity. Responding to a request from the Assam delegates for a modern media centre in Guwahati for the benefit of north-eastern journalists, the minister stated that he would actively consider the proposal.
It may be mentioned that the IJU meet, held on 23 and 24 October at Tourism Plaza in Begumpet locality, in presence of representatives from almost all States and Union Territories including Assam and Ladakh, also decided to prepare a complete list of journalists who died of Covid-19 complications since March 2020. The national union of scribes, while appealing to the Union government to declare working journalists as frontline warriors, urged the province governments to announce adequate compensatory packages to the victim families.
The meeting discussed on various other media related issues and also insisted on probing the incidents of murders of five journalists (namely Raman Kashyap, Manish Kumar Singh, Chenna Keshav, Sulabh Srivastava and Ashu Yadav to assailants till date in 2021) so that the culprits can be punished under the law. It also raised voices for adequate compensations to the victim families.
Moreover, the IJU reiterated its old demand to formulate a specific law to deal with journalists’ safety and security which should be applicable across the country. Telangana tourism, excise and sports minister V. Srinivas Goud graced opening day of the meet and assured all possible supports to media persons of the newly born Telangana State. Andhra Pradesh information commissioner Vijay Kumar Reddy too addressed the gathering on the concluding day.
A number of senior journalists including IJU secretary general Balwinder Singh Jammu, IJU former presidents SN Sinha and Devulapalli Amar (presently national media adviser to AP government), IJU vice-president Ambati Anjaneyulu, Scribes News editor Alapati Suresh Kumar, IJU secretary Y. Narender Reddy, etc were present in the meet, which was hosted by the Telangana State Union of Working Journalists.
DoNER minister graces IJU meet in Hyderabad
