(Anandam Pulipalupul)
(Haidrabad)
Chief minister Pramod Sawant has accepted several proposals that were placed before him by the Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ).
In his budget speech on Wednesday, CM Sawant announced the government’s support in setting up GUJ Journalism Clubs in colleges across the state.
The Chief Minister also announced the extension of apprenticeship program to registered media houses wherein one apprentice per registered media house will be allocated through the Department of Information and Publicity, Govt of Goa.
The chief minister has also announced a full family pension on par with the monthly journalist pension amount of Rs. 10,000 under the Goa State Working Journalist Welfare scheme.
The Goa Union of Journalists will submit a separate proposal to the government on the upskilling of full-time working journalists working in the state of Goa.
The Goa Union of Journalists welcomes all the welfare benefits for journalists that were announced by the chief minister in his budget speech on Wednesday.
Earlier, a delegation from the Goa Union of Journalists led by president Rajtilak Naik, and treasurer Amresh Parab, had submitted a list of demands to the chief minister.
The demands included proposal to establish GUJ Journalism Clubs in colleges across Goa, raise the journalist’s monthly pension amount from Rs.10,000/-pm to Rs.15,000/-pm with focus primarily on a decent family pension, proposal to extend the apprenticeship program of the Government of Goa to all Goa-based registered media houses wherein Goan youths can be trained as journalists over a period of one year with stipend.
There was also a proposal to provide housing for full-time working journalists and new office premises for the Goa Union of Journalists, besides the proposed Patrakar Bhavan.
