Hyderabad: Telangana MLC K Kavitha on Sunday said that the state government has allocated Rs 100 crore for a welfare fund for journalists out of which Rs 42 crore has already been spent.
While addressing a gathering of over 250 women journalists during a workshop in Telangana, Kavitha said, “We have commissioned Rs 100 crore as welfare fund. How do we utilise it? When a journalist passes away, Rs 1 lakh is given to the family and Rs 3,000 is given as a pension to the family for five years. The state government also gives Rs 50,000 to the journalist who meets with an accident. Out of the Rs 100 crore, Rs 42 crore has already been spent.”
Elaborating on the efforts of the state government for the welfare of the journalists, the MLC said that the K Chandrashekar Rao led government has given accreditation cards to 18,000 journalists.
“Telangana is the only state in the country which has given accreditation cards to 18,000 journalists. On the other hand, many large states have given accreditation to only 3,000 journalists. The number is dismal compared to Telangana,” she said.
Kavitha said the state government understands the “importance of people” reporting from various places including the rural and urban regions.
“We are a small and new state but we understand the importance of people who can report from various places, be it rural or urban,” she said.
She also talked about the ethics of journalism and said that one should get comments from even the most powerful politician in the country.
“If you are writing about a person or a party or anything, and if you have confidence that it is correct, or if you think that it is not correct of that person to do this, you should have the guts to talk to that person before you write anything. You should take a comment even if he or she is the most powerful politician in the country,” she said.
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