Skip to content Skip to navigation

JFA lauds HC ruling

By Nava Thakuria |

Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) expresses happiness and gratefulness over the recent Gauhati High Court directive to the management of Janasadharan, an Assamese daily newspaper to clear all the unpaid wages of the employees till January and also make an endeavour to pay the current wages accordingly.

The court also asked the management of Janasadharan Printing and Publication Ltd to restart publishing the newspaper, which has already been honoured by the proprietor with full cooperation of the employees.

Janasadharan, owned by Congress leader Rockybul Hussain and then edited by Left intellectual Dr Shivnath Barman, was suddenly stopped from publication by the management in last November, following which the employees lodged a complaint in the legal authority.

Few employees had already left with the newspaper with some financial benefits offered by the management but many did not resign and vowed to fight legally against the shut down. The agitating employees also continued attending the office of Janasadharan without any salary from the management since December.

“We hope that the renewed initiative to publish Janasadharan regularly will be fruitful for the dedicated employees of the newspaper in particular and thousands of its committed readers in general,” said a statement issued by JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria.

The statement argues that many newspaper house-owners in northeast India started closing their outlets fearing of the Supreme Court’s verdict over the implementation of Majithia Wage Board recommendations for the benefit of the print media employees with affect from November 2011.

According to the apex court of the country, each and every newspaper & news agency in India must hike the salary & other benefits to their employees under the new wage board recommendations. As the media houses in the region, except the Assam Tribune group, have not implemented the recommendations, every employee can claim over 60 months’ outstanding payments from their respective managements, added the statement.

Author info

Nava Thakuria's picture

Senior journalist based in Guwahati.

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

CME and video workshop on pediatric urology at Dispur Hospitals

5 May 2017 - 3:39pm | AT News Guwahati
The city based Dispur Hospitals’ urology department along with Assam Urological Society has organized a continuing medical education (CME) program tomorrow (6 May) on pediatric urology, which emerges...

Chaath Puja at Tangla

16 Nov 2015 - 11:45pm | Shajid Khan
Chhath puja would be observed on riverbanks and near other water bodies on November 17 and 18 at Tangla. The festival include rigorous fast and rituals spanning four days, holy bathing,...

Six injured at Bechimary

24 Oct 2016 - 9:22pm | AT Kokrajhar Bureau
At-least six persons received injuries due to road mishap at Bechimary under Fakiragram PS in Kokrajhar district.The road mishap took place at Bechimary nearby Hel Bridge following a Tata mobile van...
,

Delhi Residents Demand Long-Term Solutions as Pollution Remains 'Very Poor'

12 Nov 2024 - 1:18pm | AT New Delhi
New Delhi, November 12: Residents in Delhi have urged the administration to address the alarming pollution levels in the national capital, demanding long-term solutions as the Air Quality Index (AQI...

Other Contents by Author

11th journalist killed in Pakistan this year, PEC expresses concern

Geneva based the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), a global organization advocating for media safety and rights, has expressed deep concern over the ongoing violence against journalists in Pakistan. The latest victim, Janan Hussain (40), was killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border on November 20, during an ambush in the Kurram area that claimed the lives of 42 Shiite Muslims. Hussain, a journalist with Channel 365 and a member of the Parachinar Press Club, is the 11th media worker killed in Pakistan this year. "Janan Hussain's murder marks the 129th journalist killed globally since January 1, highlighting the grim reality of impunity in such cases," said Blaise Lempen, President...

Palestinian journalist receives PEC 2024 prize

The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) awarded its annual prize for the protection of journalists to Palestinian journalist Iyad Alasttal. This recognition comes amidst the unprecedented loss of over 150 Palestinian and Lebanese journalists since October 7, 2023, marking one of the highest tolls in such a short period in a conflict. The PEC dedicated the prize to the memory of these journalists who risk their lives daily. Iyad Alasttal, a journalist from Gaza, was forced to flee due to Israeli reprisals following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Alasttal, who launched the Gaza Stories project in 2019, has been chronicling life in Gaza and reporting for French and Western media outlets....

The Unfinished Story of Assam's NRC

On the midnight of August 31, 2019, an extraordinary bureaucrat unveiled the contentious National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, amidst a large gathering of eager media personnel in Guwahati. Prateek Hajela, the then State NRC coordinator, not only explained various features of the NRC to the assembled reporters but also declared the supplementary list as the definitive one. Some television journalists, excited by the so-called "extraordinary work" of the technocrat-turned-IAS officer, went as far as to applaud Hajela as a superhero. However, the ground reality paints a different picture. The Assam NRC has never been endorsed—nor is it today—by the Registrar General of India (RGI...

When scribes face corruption charges & arrests

It’s shocking to report that a number of Guwahati-based scribes and RTI (right to information) activists have been facing interrogation and even arrest by Assam chief minister’s special vigilance cell following the allegations of Sewali Devi Sharma, the prime accused in Rs 105 crore State council of educational research and training (SCERT) scam, as being blackmailers to her in different occasions. The arrestees include a female reporter (identified as Pujamoni Das alias Honey Kashyap, who reportedly took a large volume of money from Ms Sharma) along with a satellite news channel reporter named Bhaskarjoti Hazarika.  RTI activists namely Rabijit Gogoi (who pretended to be a...

Dreaming of a new world with three zeros

Can we imagine a world of zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero carbon emissions with a new approach in post-corona economics! Ask Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and he will answer in the affirmative. The university professor turned revolutionary banker believes that the human race should not only dream about a safer world by reducing global warming, wealth concentration and unemployment, but also work in that direction with personal and collective capacities. In his latest book titled ‘A World of Three Zeros’, Prof Yunus proposes a new economic system focusing on every human being as an entrepreneur in the making. He believes that humans are not born to work only for...

Assam readies to host G20 meetings

Guwahati: Assam is all set to host first sustainable financial working group (SFWG) meeting and Youth 20 inception meeting as part of India's year-long G20 presidency, where it is meticulously chalked out various tour programs that would help in promoting the State’s rich biodiversity and socio-cultural heritage in international arena. The authorities have completed the preparation to welcome the foreign delegates to the State. Guwahati is adorned with digital wall painting, thematic gates, flags of G 20 countries, LED cut-outs, standees, hoarding, etc as part of branding and beautification. The government has also completed the arrangement for the visiting delegates to places of...

Needed serious self-introspection among press persons

Guwahati: India observes National Press Day on 16 November with an aim to pay tributes to everyone who contributed to the growth of print media along with its mentor & watchdog the Press Council of India (PCI). Moreover, it’s also an occasion for the practicing media persons to introspect seriously over their noble profession where it has been heading in the post-Covid-19 pandemic era. Since its inception and functioning, the PCI continues to symbolize a free and responsible press in the largest democracy in the world. Among all press or media councils, functioning in various countries, the PCI is recognised as a unique entity that exercises authority over the media and also safeguards...

Dissecting Assam NRC for better understanding

Participating in a debate on satellite television or digital channels needs some homeworks to make the deliberations short and clear. Unless you face an arrogant anchor and unruly participants, the experience in talk shows normally emerges as an intriguing one. It happened to me, as I had recently participated in a digital media discussion on the pertinent issue of National Register of Citizens  (NRC) in Assam, where the prime guest was none other than the immediate past State NRC coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma. The talk show host Dikshit Sharma put the questions in a clever way so that the issue comes alive and my part was just to interpret Dev Sarma’s version for clarity to the valued...

Silver Jubilee carnival for Kaliabor Press Club

Guwahati: It was an amazing experience to attend the foundation day of a 25 year old press club in central Assam on a lazy Sunday, where a number of senior citizens along with rural scribes and novice journalists were waiting to listen to my speech. It’s easier to address a journalist’s meet- where we can discuss many issues with liberties, but while the audience includes respected senior citizens and young people, it becomes a difficult task to speak to them together. First, the question that arises, how much should I highlight the eroding credibility of the mainstream media around India in general and Assam in particular and secondly what may be the role of social (alternate/digital)...

Centenary celebration of Assam sports journalism begins

Guwahati: A year-long celebration of 100 years of sports journalism in Assam begins coinciding on the day while the first ever news related to a football competition is published in Asomiya (a weekly news magazine mentored by Chandra Kumar Agarwala) on 1  July 1923. Assam Sports Journalists Association (ASJA), which is affiliated with the Sports Journalists Federation of India (a national affiliate of the International Sports Press Association), has taken the lead in celebrating the occasion that will culminate on 1  July next year. On Saturday, flags for ASJA and the centenary celebration were hoisted by ASJA’s founder president Balendra Mohan Chakraborty and his successor...