Govt considering setting up wage board for media: Dasmunsi

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) The government is ''actively thinking and constructively approaching'' the issue of setting up a wage board for financial stability and protection of journalists, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said today.

Mr Dasmunsi gave this assurance while participating in the 'Silver Jubilee celebration of the UNI Workers Union' at the news agency's headquarters here.

Union Minister for Steel and Chemical and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan said he would work within the government to get the demand of journalists for a new wage board accepted.

Mr Dasmunsi said the freedom of press was fundamental for any democracy and his government would not undermine or curtail it or show any disrespect to it. He said the government was not planning to impose any restiction or arbitrary authority on the press. However, the press has to be act responsibly and project correct perspective of the issues concerned.

Mr Dasmunsi said a disinformation campaign has been launched against the proposed government move to reserve 27 per cent seats in higher educational institutes of the country. The issue was decided unanimously by all the parties in Parliament. The decision was taken in view of the Supreme Court order which gave the private educational institutes the authority to do whatever they want to do.

The government's intention was not meant to curtail the rights of other students who have launched an agitation against it, he said and regretted that a disinformation campaign has been launched against it. The Information and Broadcasting Minister said that the media has a role to project the correct perspective by providing exact information without any kind of interpretation of their own.

''We don't question, can't dictate neither could interfere in the freedom of press, just persuade them and appeal to them,'' he said.

Mr Paswan also said that reservation would help the people from backward classes an equal opportunity for quality education which is being denied to them by the private educational institutions.

Mr Paswan urged the media to desist from sensationalism as it affects the lives of people and endangers national integration.

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