Mangaluru: As Mahatma Gandhi was the first journalist of India, Karnataka State Working Journalists’ Association should present an award in the name of Mahatma Gandhi”, said Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol said on Sunday, March 8.
Delivering a valedictory address at the 35th state conference of Karnataka Working Journalists’ at Kudmul Ranga Rao Town Hall, Karjol said, “when our country was under the British Government, Mahatma Gandhi started a weekly magazine ‘Young India’ in order to create awareness on freedom struggle and to mobilise people.
He also started another weekly newspaper ‘Harijan’ to bring the SC/STs also participate in the freedom struggle. Along with providing awards in the name of many achievers who contributed to media, Karnataka state Working Journalists’ Association should start providing award in the name of Mahatma Gandhi, so as to respect the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi towards media.
Karajol promised of providing more grant from the government for the journalists’ welfare fund. “ Though the association has asked the government to earmark at least Rs 50 crore for the journalists’ welfare fund in the budget, the government was able to earmark only Rs 5 crore this time. I will speak to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to fulfill the demands of the association in the next budget. There was also a demand of Rs 5 crore to construct Journalists’ Bhavan in Bengaluru and provide bus pass for journalists, which will also be fulfilled soon,” he added.
Asking journalists to focus on agriculture Karajol said, “ though industries contribute a lot towards the development of the country, around 65 per cent of people are still engaged in agriculture. Hence, there is a need to focus on the achievers of agricultural sector. More articles should be written on agricultural aspects. Media should be impartial and its reports should be based on facts.”
Meanwhile, several senior journalists like Manohar Prasad, Anand Shetty, U P Shivanand, Padmaraj Dandavathi, Thimmappa Bhat and others were felicitated on the occasion.
Association state president Shivananda Thagadoor presided over the programme. District president Srinivas Nayak Indaje welcomed the gathering. MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, MLC Ivan D’Souza, former ministers B Ramanath Rai, Krishna J Palemar among others were present.
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