Wage Boards Recommends Wage Hike for Journalists of India

Wage Boards recommend 2.5 to 3 times hike

 The Wage Boards for Working Journalists and Non-Journalists and other newspaper employees submitted their recommendations to the Government of India on 31st December 2010 (Today) at New Delhi recommending 2.5 to 3 times hike in basic pay and fixing the retirement age at 65, PTI reports.

The revised basic pay has been computed after merging the existing basic pay, the dearness allowance and the 30 per cent interim relief already granted besides 35 per cent variable pay, said Chairman of the Boards Justice G R Majithia.

The recommendations have been proposed to be implemented from January 8, 2008.

Taking into account the concept of grade pay introduced in the Sixth Pay Commission, the Boards introduced 'variable pay' for all employees working in newspaper establishments and news agencies. Consequently, the Boards proposed a variable pay of 35 per cent. This will be implemented from July 1, 2010.

"As per the recommendation, current basic pay would rise by 2.5 to 3 times," a wage board official said.

According to an official of the Wage Boards, the basic pay at the entry level could be anywhere around Rs 9,000 while the basic pay drawn at the senior level could be around Rs 25,000 in a category 1 media house.

"We have also proposed establishment of a permanent tribunal to redress grievances between employers and employees," Majithia said after presenting the recommendations to Labour and Employment Secretary Prabhat Chaturvedi.

The recommendations would be examined by the Ministry before they are tabled before the Union Cabinet for approval, Chaturvedi said..

Employees organisation welcomes Wage Boards recommendations

The Confederation of Newspapers and News Agencies Employees Organisations  welcomed the recommendations of the Wage Boards for working journalists and non-journalists and other newspaper employees.

It said though wage board members were not allowed voting on some crucial issues, the confederation was happy that some of their important demands have been met.

"We are happy that employees have been able to get some important demands through even though members were not allowed voting on some crucial issues," said general secretary of the confederation M S Yadav.

The Wage Boards which submitted their recommendations to the Government today recommending 2.5 to 3 times hike in basic pay and fixing the retirement age at 65.

Leaders of other unions also expressed mixed reactions to the recommendations. They included senior leader National Union of Journalist (India) N K Trikha, President of Indian Journalists Union Suresh Akhouri, General Secretary All India Newspaper Employees Federation Madan Talwar, President of Federation of PTI Employees Union John Gonsalves and President of UNI Workers Union M L Joshi..

Harishchandr Bhat, President, Journalists Association of Karnataka (JAK) at Bangalore welcomed the report and termed it as 'Good verdict'. Pointing out the main recommendations i.e. 3times increase in basic pay. Entry level basic at 9000. Senior level 25000. Date implementation 8-2008. 35 % variable pay. Permanent Tribunal for implementation and grievances redressal. Retirement age 65, He said it is really very good package.

H.Y.Mahesh, Your memory remains forever

H.Y.Mahesh, Your memory remains forever

Mr. H.Y. Mahesh who has been fighting corruption in BBMP for the past three Years through intense use of RTI and Lokayukta died in an accident this Monday (20th December 2010) Morning. Mahesh was fatally hit from behind by a BMTC bus while he was on his Scooter and he succumbed to injuries before he arrived at the Victoria Hospital.

He was on his way to Lokayukta office to file a complaint against BBMP Officers And Revenue Department officials.

Mahesh  had waged an intense war against corruption at BBMP and for the past
Three years, he along with me and Dr. Shankara Prasad had worked under the banner of Sachidananda Nagara Nyayapara Andolana (SNNA) (www.nyayapara-andolana.org) and had used RTI and Lokayukta to solve the problem of Khata issual at BBMP.

Most recently, Mahesh was called one of the “Khata Warriors” of Bangalore and he along with others was successful in convincing Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde to issue a directive to BBMP Commissioner to issue Khata to all Sachidananda Nagar site owners, according to the Supreme Court order.

His hard work of more than three years had benefited more than 900 Bangalore residents to get their BBMP Khatas without paying bribe.

After obtaining his B.Com degree, Mahesh has been in the Banking industry. He had been working with State Bank of India for the past 32 years with many
responsibilities.

 His passion had been to fight against injustice since his College days. He had taken keen interest in understanding government processes

And in intricately working towards trapping people involved in corrupt practices in government. His mission after retirement was to educate citizens of their Rights and duties. He is survived by his wife Harini , two daughters Namitha and Namratha apart from his aged mother and brothers.

“Losing such a dedicated activist who wanted to clean up the corrupt government
System, is a great loss to Bangaloreans and to Sachidananda Nagara Nyayapara
Andolana” said Dr. Shankara Prasad, who was a partner and coordinator of the
Andolana.

Now Mahesh, remained a memory to all of us. But his commitment, inspiring words and compassion to friends and family members will inspire all of us in forwarding the movement he committed and fulfill the task unfulfilled.

Please click the images here to read the press reports appeared in various news papers in Kannada as well as English, like The Hindu, Indian Express, Times of India, Deccan Chronicle, DNA, Kannada Prabha, Udayavani, Vijaya Karnataka, Prajavani etc along with the PDF of some condolence messages we received.

-Nethrakere Udaya Shankara

Historic Strike by Forestry Students in Karnataka

Historic Strike by Forestry

 Students in Karnataka

Forestry students in Sirsi (Uttara Kannada District) and Ponnampet (Kodagu District) in Karnataka are on strike since 27th September 2010.

 They are demanding to make BSc (Forestry) Degree sole eligibility for the recruitments of Regional Forestry Officer (RFO) and Asst. Conservator of Forests (ACF) in forest department in Kanataka in the lines of Tamilnadu, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh etc.

 Their question is if Medical students could become Doctors, Engineering students could become Engineers, Agricultural Degree holders could become Agurucultural Officers and Agriculture (Horticuture) Degree holders could become Horticulture officers in their respective departments/ fields why Forestry Degree Holders could not become equalent officers like RFO, ACF in Forest Departments?

  Here is the video glimpse of Rasta Rohko at Sirsi by Forestry College students held on 27 November 2010, on 64th day of their strike..

Vidio Courtesy: Forestry Students.

Their Strike crossed 69tj day by now.

Support the genuine demand of  these students-

Watch the video by clicking here:



- Nethrakere Udaya Shankara