Kannur : Kerala minister for Information and Public Relations K C Joseph today said the state government has decided in principle to form a” Pension Fund Board” to give pension to journalists and non-journalists of the state. Speaking after inaugurating the 17th state level conference of Kerala Newspaper Employees Federation (KNEF), here he said presently the pension related work was being carried out by a section of PRD staff for processing and examining the details of applications. This would not be so in future.
The main problem faced by the state government was that there was no share from the managements of newspapers for the pension scheme, he said. The managements also have a responsibility of safeguarding the welfare of their staff , but they are not cooperating in this regard, he pointed out. The state government has decided to cut a small per cent of funds from PRD advertisements to newspapers and deposit the amount in the proposed “Pension Fund Board” for the welfare of journalists and non-journalists, he said.
He also opined that most of the media houses were controlled by corporate’s and they focus more on protecting their own interest rather than social commitment. The meet also discussed reforms of labour laws, rectification of anomalies in Majithia wage board, setting up of a demand notice for a new wage board, comprehensive welfare schemes for media persons at national level, a Media Workers’s Bank and a study and research centre. KNEF state President Gopan Ambat, Secretary S R Anilkumar, KUWJ state President Abdul Gafoor and Secretary C Narayanan, AINEF National General Secretary V Balagopal also participated in the conference.
