Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha stressing the importance of media to create awareness in society said that news always is news and it should not be a personal view of the writer.

Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha stressing the importance of media to create awareness in society said that news always is news and it should not be a personal view of the writer.

Tripura along with other parts of the country on November 16 celebrates the ‘National Press Day’ and the main programme was held at Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan in Agartala, organized by the Information and Cultural Affairs (ICA) department in collaboration with the Agartala press club. Two senior journalists Sekhar Datta and Swapan Bhattacharjee were felicitated for their lifetime contributions in the field of journalism.

The Chief Minister addressing the celebration said that this year’s National Press Day is being celebrated with the theme of ‘media role in nation building’, and as the media a mirror of the society , the media have every rights for criticism, but the constructive criticism often good for society, but the personal views of media persons with ulterior motive targeting a section is often dangerous for democracy.

Highlighting the contribution of the present government towards the media fraternity, Dr Saha said that from the first day, the present state government always maintained its pro-media stand and has also given different facilities to this community. "The government is always transparent and has taken measures to reduce the suffering of media persons by implementing one after one decision in favour of the community," said Dr Saha and added that all problems would not be solved in one day and the government is very much keen to resolve the problems of the media fraternity.

Mentioning the significance of the day, Dr Saha appealed to all media persons to be a voice of the society through constructive writing or media presentations, but should avoid the personal interest in their writings.

During the beginning of the celebration, the secretary of Information and Cultural Affairs (ICA) department Dr P K Chakraborty highlighted the significance of the state and said the day is meant to mark the presence of the free and responsible press in India. He said that the Press Council of India is responsible for examining the quality of reportage from Indian media, while also keeping a check on other journalistic activities.

The freedom of the press is an essential aspect to maintain the independence of the press. This ensures the integrity of the press as it is often referred to as the voice of the voiceless and the present government under the leadership of Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha strengthening the voices of the media, said Dr Chakraborty.

While addressing the gathering ICA Minister Sushanta Chowdhury through his constructive speech said that the government is continuously giving its efforts for the overall welfare of the media community by strengthening their social and economical status. He said that as advised by the Chief Minister towards the empowerment of the media community, the government along with sanctioning a number of accreditation cards , will also assure health insurance schemes of Rs. 3 lakh each to all accredited journalists of the state.

"With a liberal policy , the present government is now giving maximum number of accreditation cards to all bonafide journalists," said Chowdhury and added that due to extended advertisement policies of the government for media, the earlier budget of ICA department from Rs. 40 crore has extended up to Rs. 100 crore./p>

Mentioning the holistic approaches of the state government for media community, Chowdhury also stressed on constructive journalism and stated that some media persons try to dictate over the department, but the present government will not allow them to run their conservative approaches towards media.

The present government believes in working in a positive environment with collective efforts of all communities and to give more benefits to media, soon the government will hike advertisement rate, said Chowdhury.

He said that within the next few days the much awaited first film institute of Tripura, under the aegis of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata will start its journey at Nazrul Kalakshetra in Agartala.

Earlier, in the programme the secretary of Agartala press club and senior journalist Pranab Sarkar in speech expressed his gratitude towards the present state government for extending the facilities health insurance scheme for journalists, hike of pension wages and for their generous help towards the community in any crisis time. He said that the present government has also modernized the Agartala press club and media persons from other parts of the state are staying in the club without any room rent.

During the celebration two veteran journalists Sekhar Datta and Swapan Bhattacharjee of Udaipur were felicitated by the Chief Minister and ICA Minister for their contributions in media with a ‘swal’, memento, citations and an amount of Rs. 5000.

The distinguished journalists like Shruta Ranjan Kisha, editor of North East Colors Sanjib Deb, senior journalists Sekhar Datta, Pradip Datta Bhowmik, Arun Nath, Jayanta Bhattacharjee and Paritosh Biswas were given their ‘distinguished accredation’ cards and journalists Pranab Sarkar and Manas Paul were also given accreditation cards for their journalism above 20 years. Later, in the programme, the ICA department had also handed over press jackets among the journalists from Agartala as well as from subdivisional towns of the state.

The director of ICA department Ratan Biswas and vice president of Agartala press club Arun Nath were also present in the dais.