I&B Minister Smriti Irani at the Parliament. (Express Photo by Praven Jain)
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has reconstituted two journalist-related bodies that fall under its purview.
In an order issued on March 20, the ministry announced the names of the members of the Central Press Accreditation Committee that considers the names of correspondents and camerapersons who get Press Information Bureau (PIB) accreditation.
The eight-member committee is headed by the Prinicpal Director General of PIB as the ex-officio chairperson. Other members include a representative of the Press Council of India and a representative of the News Broadcasters Association. The five other members of the committee, which has a tenure of two years include, Prashant Mishra of Dainik Jagran; Navika Kumar of Times Now; Kanchan Gupta, commissioning editor with ABP News; J Gopikrishnan of The Pioneer; and Smita Prakash, Editor News of Asian News International.
The ministry has also constituted a committee to administer the Journalists Welfare Scheme, under which it will provide “one-time ex-gratia relief on urgent basis to journalists and their families.”
The scheme provides financial assistance to journalists or their families in instances of accidents or health problems.
The administering committee will have the I&B Secretary, Principal DG PIB, and a joint secretary from the I&B ministry from the government’s side.