The former president of the Indian Newspaper Society and member of Parliament, Mr Vijay Darda, strongly criticised the Central government’s move to implement the recommendations of a new wage board for the print media in the country. Taking strong objection to the government’s interference in the functioning of the newspaper industry, Mr
Darda said that the government is scuttling the freedom of the press in India by exercising its control over the print media in a covert manner.
In a strongly worded statement issued here on Wednesday, Mr Darda said that there is no wage board (statutory or non-statutory) for any other industry or any other medium such as TV, Radio and Internet; the government has targeted only the print media.
To buttress his argument, Mr Darda brought to the notice of the government the recent report of the Justice Majithia Wage Board, which has recommended an unrealistic hike in the wages of employees working in the newspaper industry.
Terming it as discriminatory and arbitrary, Mr Darda said wage boards should be abolished as they infringe on the freedom of newspaper establishments and violate their right to fix the salary of their employees as is done in other industries in the country.
The founder president of the South Asia Editor’s Forum warned that if the recommendations in the report were implemented, the small and medium newspaper establishments would be left with no option but to close down.