SIKKIM JOURNALIST FRATERNITY WELCOMES WAGE BOARD

GANGTOK, May 23: The Journalist fraternity of Sikkim have welcomed the constitution of a Wage Board for Working Journalists by the Centre.

Welcoming the announcement, working journalists from Sikkim have expressed their happiness over the Wage Board, saying that it will mean at least a decent salary to them.

Commenting on this development, veteran journalist and President, Press Club of Sikkim, CD Rai said that this was long overdue. Welcoming Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s approval, Mr. Rai said that this will ensure that every working journalist in Sikkim will get equal pay and this will end the great pay disparity prevalent in many media organisations in the State. “The Wage Boards should act quickly so that all working journalists benefit from them,” he said.

Senior journalist, Bijay Bantawa said that Sikkim’s journalists would benefit immensely from this, adding that the Wage Board was long overdue to remove the uneven salary structure adopted by the many publication houses in the State.

Journalists working with smaller newspapers, especially the weekly ones, have also expressed happiness over the possibility of salary at par with those working with bigger daily newspapers.

The Prime Minister recently approved the constitution of a Wage Board for Working Journalists. Formal orders regarding this will be issued shortly by the Union Labour Ministry.

The central Government has appointed K. Narayana Kurup, retired judge of the Kerala High Court, chairperson of the two wages boards for working and non-working journalists, the proposal for which was cleared by the Union Cabinet in December 2006.

They will submit their reports within three years. The former Union Labour Secretary, K.M. Sahni has been appointed member-secretary to operationalise the wage boards, which will have two 10 members each. Besides the chairperson, a full-time member-secretary, two independent members and three members representing employers' organisations will be common to both boards. The boards will start functioning with immediate effect.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has also welcomed the announcement of the establishment of a Wage Board for working journalists and other media workers working for the country’s newspapers saying it is recognition of the “key role decent working conditions play in building quality media.”

“This announcement is good news for unions who have been demanding decent working conditions, and it is welcome recognition of the key role decent work plays in building media quality,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “Establishing fair and equitable standards for labour conditions for journalists and non-editorial newspaper staff will give a vital boost to India’s media industry,” he said.

The country’s three major journalists groups – the Indian Journalists’ Union, the National Union of Journalists, India and the All India Newspaper Employees Federation – formed a confederation to demand that the government made good on promises to re-launch the country’s wage board system.

Rongli my birthplace

BY SHITAL PRADHAN A small hamlet in an eastern side Silent raush on its way, The old silk route, More older it look Upon which I stay, Hey that’s Rongli, Rongli my birthplace Years went by, years dried up, Yet the small village is as it was, Silent, peaceful and introvert Today’s picture of Rongli, Houses as station bogie, Looks a cradle, from Chujachen, Upon which the blue sky, As if I can touch thee, Roaring River, As the legend we hear, Still watch with glee, The terror of 1890 somewhat forgotten, Yet another terrorizing moment, 68 was the year… 1968, When sky too wasn’t pleased. That was Rongli, Rongli of the past. Playing along the Baar-Pepal tree, Hiding in the Shivalaya, Watching videos and aloft Is a decent memory, now? Sweet time in treasure, Yet when I am in Rongli, I am happy, in whither sweet. Rongli my birthplace !

India’s illegal occupation of independent Sikkim has to be reversed

Extracted from Pakistan Defence India’s “Chief Executive” in Gangtok wrote: “Sikkim’s merger was necessary for Indian national interest. And we worked to that end. Maybe if the Chogyal had been smarter and played his cards better, it wouldn’t have turned out the way it did.” It is also said that the real battle was not between the Chogyal and Kazi Lendup Dorji but between their wives. On one side was Queen Hope Cook, the American wife of the Chogyal and on the other was the Belgian wife of the Kazi, Elisa-Maria Standford. “This was a proxy war between the American and the Belgian,” says former chief minister BB Gurung. But there was a third woman involved: Indira Gandhi in New Delhi. Chogyal Palden met the 24-year-old New Yorker Hope Cook in Darjeeling in 1963 and married her. For Cook, this was a dream come true: to become the queen of an independent kingdom in Shangrila. She started taking the message of Sikkimese independence to the youth, and the allegations started flying thic...

The coinage system of Sikkim

It is more or less a forgotten part of the development process of the then-small Himalayan kingdom, Sikkim . The introduction of the coinage system in Sikkim ceased the way it started. A study of the coinage system of Sikkim sheds light on the socio-economic and political history of the then-small state. The coins of Sikkim ended the way they appeared; they came from nowhere, and finally, they got lost out in the darkness. A handful of people around Sikkim and in the districts of Darjeeling now have these rare items in their collections. The coin of Sikkim is much sought after by numismatists interested in countries that no longer exist today. Before the British invasion of the land of Sikkim, the capital revenue system was never heard. Sikkim, being an agricultural foreground, had some parts of food grains given to the king as tax. Trade was carried out where things were exchanged between individuals. This system was prevalent even in the mid-19th century; oranges were exchan...

Proud to be a Sikkimese: Sikkim Travel, Culture & Local Heritage

Search This Blog