Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister, was presented a Memorandum by prominent journalists of the State headed by Kanwar Yogendra, President, Journalists’ Forum and Confederation General Secretary, on behalf of the Confederation of Newspaper and News Agency Employees’ Organisation seeking his intervention for notification of the Wage Board Recommendations for Journalists and Non-Journalist Employees of newspapers and news agency organizations.Chief Minister assured the journalists of the State that he would be taking up the issue with the concerned authorities in the Government of India and make efforts to get the recommendations implemented so that justice was done with the journalists and non-journalist employees working with the newspapers and news agencies. He reminded them that he had also raised their demands in the Parliament when he was Member of the Parliament from the State.
Kanwar Yogendra apprised him of the recommendations of the Wage Board which majority of newspapers and news agencies were not implementing. He said that revenue was pouring in from advertisements and other sources but the employees were not given their due. He urged the Chief Minister for his intervention and raise the issue at appropriate platform and help in protecting the interests of the journalists.
What about the rest ?
Thanks to RTI activist SC Agrawal’s application, now we know the attendance at Cabinet Meetings for 2010 / 11 , as follows :
Ø Pranab Mukherjee ………………………. 95 %
Ø Ambika Soni / AK Antony / Veerappa Moily …………. 85 %
Ø Kapil Sibal ……………………………………………………………… 83 %
Ø Murli Deora …………………………………………………………………80 %
Ø P Chidambaram ………………………………………………………. 75 %
Ø Dayanidhi Maran …………………………………………………….. 50 %
Ø S M Krishna ………………………………………………………………. 45 %
Ø Farooq Abdullah ………………………………………………………..35 %
Ø Mamta Banerjee / M K Alagiri ………………………………. 17 %
Obviously, DNA [ June 25, 2011 ] did not consider it worth wasting ink on reporting the attendance of the rest !
In most schools in India, children with less than 80 % class attendance are not allowed to appear in the final exam.
We should seriously consider a People’s Representation Bill, which would disqualify ministers having less than 80 % attendance from contesting next election !
With regards
hemen parekh
Jobs for All = Peace on Earth