New Delhi, Dec 3 : Journalists, who came from different parts of Kerala,under the aegis of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ),took out a ”Parliament March” from the Kerala House to Jantar Mantar in the capital demanding constitution of a new wage board.
The members of the KUWJ unit in Delhi also joined the march.
The march, led by KUWJ President Bobby Abraham and General Secretary S Jayasankar and Delhi unit President D Vijayamohan and Kerala Press Acdemy Vice-Chairman C Gauridasan Nair, was flagged off by former Kerala Chief Minister and CPI leader P K Vasudevan Nair, MP, in front of the Kerala House.
At Jantar Mantar, noted journalist Kuldip Nayyar addressed the demonstrators.
Mr Nayyar said the new wage board should not be headed by a judge as in the previous cases, but should be headed by a journalist. ”Only a journalist can understand the real problems of the journalists. If necessary, a judge can be appointed to assist him in the task.”
In this context, he favoured appointment of a journalist as thehead of the Press Council of India, which had been headed by a judge.He regretted that some of the newspaper organisations had not so far implemented the Manisana Singh Wage Board recommendations.Mr Nayyar asked the journalists unions to fight against the introduction of the contract system which, he said, was ”illegal”.
He wanted the government to take the initiative for the constitution of a new wage board without further loss of time.The demonstrators were also addressed by CPI (M) Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai, CPI General Secretary D Raja and members of Parliament from Kerala.