nThe Chhattisgarh government is engaged in providing a range of better facilities for journalists of the state.
More and more journalists have been brought under the preview by amending the eligibility provisions of the facilities provided by the Public Relations Department.
The process of framing the Journalist Security Act is also in its final stage.
The government has increased the Senior Media Worker Honorarium from `5,000 to `10,000 per month. The provisional rules have also been amended to make preferential provision for development level journalists.
The limit of financial assistance provided by the Journalist Welfare Fund has been increased from `50 thousand to `2 lakhs for journalists in need.
The labour department has issued an order to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 years.
With the changing nature of media, provisions have been made to give preference to journalists of TV channels, web portals, news magazines and news agencies. The eligibility quota for media institutions has almost doubled.
Also, long-term service journalist preference has been introduced for retired journalists who have been in this profession for a long time. As a result, there are currently 233 state level and 287 district level preferential journalists.
In the previous year, extensive changes were made in the rules of Journalist Welfare Fund to increase the scope of helping journalists during treatment of critical illnesses, or economic crisis in old age and natural disasters.
Additionally, provision of financial assistance on the loss of camera and other equipment during news coverage in odd situations like riots and floods has been added into the new rule.
Since the past two years, financial assistance of more than `41 lakh has been provided to 49 journalists of the state.