By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Jammu: On January 11, the Finance Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Dr Haseeb A Drabu while presenting the state budget in the state legislative assembly announced “MediClaim Insurance Policy” for the accredited working journalist of the state.
However, this announcement has come as a major disappointment for hundreds of journalists who are non-accredited and work in hostile situations risking their lives to report the stories.
The government constitutes State Media accreditation committee and conduct of business and consists of not more than 12 members who are non-officials to be nominated by the State Government from amongst the representatives of news media, news agencies, correspondents, press photographers/videographers and editors of daily newspapers of repute with not less than eight years of experience.
Accreditation is given only to such news media representatives, except Freelancers, who have a minimum of five years professional experience as a full time working journalist/photo-journalists/video-journalists/cartoonist in a news media organisation.
Jammu and Kashmir Young Journalist Association (JKYJA), while reacting to insurance announcement for accredited journalists, said this step left out a large number of journalists who have been working on ground zero.
“The accredited journalists get all the benefits and felicitations from the state, apart from the huge revenue of advertisement and handsome salaries. On the other hand, non-accredited journalists are bypassed on every count,” said Rameez Makhdoomi, spokesperson JKYJA.
The association further said that the committees run by the government to decide the accreditation standards are not working on professional lines. “They should work in tune with the need of the present times,” Makhdoomi added.
The JKYJA urged the government to address the issues pertaining to the working journalists and said that government should come clear on the accreditation policy. It said the policy needed to be altered for the sake of the welfare of journalists working on ground zero.
“The government needs to come clear on the accreditation policy…reporters, photojournalists working on ground zero with seven years of experience should qualify for accreditation,” Ajaz Ahmad War, President JKYJA.
“It is very unfortunate that non-accredited journalists have been skipped in the Medicare insurance. We are the workforce for the newspapers who are working despite many odds. I think govt should reconsider their decision and include all the journalists in the scheme,” Aquib Javeed who is a reporter at Kashmir Observer told TwoCircles.net.
Another journalist, Mir Iqbal, who works at the Greater Kashmir told TCN, “A huge number of non accredited journalist are putting their lives at risk to cover the ground reality and they must be included in the policy.”
“We are the foot soldiers of the media industry, the government can’t ignore us,” he added.
Importantly, dozens of media persons have been injured in Jammu and Kashmir in last few years while performing their professional duties. During 2016 unrest, two journalists were blinded after the use of pellet gun by the security force personnel.