Mahara vows to enforce journo act

Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Minister for Information and Communication, has vowed to enforce the Working Journalists (First Amendment) act.

"Unlike in the past, we will implement this act," Mahara said, speaking in the parliament, on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, MP Raghuji Pant, who led the taskforce to finalise the draft bill, has stressed on the need to implement the law. "We hope the government will work to ensure its full implementation. There is also a provision whereby after two years, the government will have to review its implementation," he said.

The new law has a number of provisions aimed at strengthening professional security and enhancing capacity of working journalists. According to this law, media houses will not be allowed to keep more than 15 percent of the working journalists on contract basis, who must be entitled to provident fund and other facilities being given to permanent journalists. Media houses will have to cover the medical treatment and provide compensation to working journalists in case of accident while on duty. Likewise, it provisions for a 13-member committee will be formed to determine minimum salary of working journalists. The committee will have representatives from different government departments, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists and three working journalists. nepalnews.com sd Aug 09 07