UNIEF demands setting up of press

Mumbai June 6 (UNI) The UNI Employees' Federation (UNIEF) has unanimously elected veteran labour leader and outgoing general secretary MV Sasidharan its president and re-elected senior journalist Jaspal Singh Sidhu (Delhi) as working president.

Mr C P Jha, Special Correspondent based at Mumbai and Rajesh Kumar, special Correspondent from Delhi were elected as General Secretaries at its three-day 9th All India National Conference that concluded here today.

The conference also elected A. Ramachandran (Kerala), Surat Tarachand Thakur (Mumbai) and Arjun Singh (Delhi) as vice presidents. P Gopalakrishnan (Kochi), J P Rana (Delhi) and P V Nair (Mumbai) were elected secretary while P M Sarasan (Delhi) was retained as treasurer.

The new executive consists of Gurdip Singh (Chandigarh), G B Appugunde (Mumbai), C G Vasan (Kerala) and Javed (Delhi).

The working president was authorised to co opt other office bearers and executive members in consultation with the newly elected general secretary.

Rajesh Kumar has been entrusted with the task of suggesting ways and means to strengthen the federation.

The federation passed several resolutions urging the Government to restructure the ownership of the Indian News agencies to ensure their financial viability and autonomous functioning on the lines recommended by the Kuldeep Nayar Committee, set up by the Morarjee Desai Government in 1977.

The UNIEF also demanded the Government to constitute a statutory Press&Media Commission to suggest measures to improve the functioning of news industry and to make it accountable to the society at large.

The conference, hosted by the UNI Employees' Union, Mumbai, was attended by more than 50 delegates and observers from all over the country.

It demanded constitution of a permanent wage revision machinery for journalists and non-journalists employees, Urging the government to unilaterally declare a minimum of 50 per cent interim raise in the wages till the setting up and recommendation of a New Wage Board for the industry.

To mark the Golden Jubilee of UNI (registered in December 1959), a draft entitled 'History of UNI: Back to Future' by C P Jha was released at the Conference which contains a perspective plan to take the agency to new heights on technological and financial fronts with a commitment to inform the people objectively about the happenings in the country and abroad.

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