GUWAHATI, Aug 22 - The two-day 71st national council meeting of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists (IFWJ), held at the Vishalakshi Hall of the Sri Sri Ravishankar Ashram, Bengaluru on August 18 and 19, has underlined the need for free, fair and independent journalism for robustness of democracy. This was stated in a press release.
Inaugurating the meet attended by more than 800 journalists from all over India, internationally-acclaimed spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said that while all the pillars of democracy i.e., Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and the Media are necessary, there should be some distance among all the pillars to have a good building. There must not be confrontation among all the pillars but interdependence of one on the other is also not desirable.
He said that the journalists can play a pivotal role in building the society and the nation by means of disseminating information in a positive manner.
Delivering his keynote speech, Justice Santosh Hegde, former judge of the Supreme Court said that corruption has entered every section of the society. Even the judiciary has also been corrupted by unscrupulous persons. Media is a poor man�s court because a poor man cannot approach the court due to the high cost of litigation. However, he regretted that even the media has also gone astray and now it has become an open secret that some media persons do not present news but plant stories at the behest of vested interests.
Apart from Indian journalists, over 30 journalists of Sri Lanka-based association, SLPA and two from Nepal also attended the IFWJ�s meeting. President BV Mallikarjunaiah, vice president Hemant Tiwari and secretary general Parmanand Pandey threw light on the activities and achievements of the organisation. IFWJ secretary Siddharth Kalhans and RS Tumkur conducted the proceedings.
It is worthwhile to mention that a resolution was passed unanimously in the meeting regarding the new wage board constitution for newspaper employees of the country. It also decided to submit a memorandum to Government of India in this regard.
A 26-member delegation from Assam Union of Working Journalists joined the meeting where State general secretary Tutumoni Phukan submitted the State committee report with a demand for a constitutional status of the media and enactment of Journalist Security Act, the release added.
