The Minimum Wage Fixing Committee has been making preparation to increase the minimum wage of working journalists.
During an interaction on 'Implementation status of Working Journalists Act' here Wednesday, the Committee Chairman Gangadhar Parajuli said the existing minimum wage for the working journalists was low. The journalists have demanded the increase in their payment while seeking suggestion, he said, adding that it was therefore a time to review the minimum wage provision.
"The recommendation made by the committee formed in 2015 was implemented from 16 July 2016," he informed, arguing that as the salary of the government employees has increased by 25 percent in the last two years, it has been mandatory to hike the journalists' minimum payment.
Currently, a journalist working in the national level media is getting minimum salary of Rs 19,500; while those in the mofussil media are paid Rs 14,100 in minimum.
Central member of the Federation of Nepali Journalists Janmadev Jaishi also shared similar information that preparation was on to collect views of working journalists from the field and suggestion of the experts, so that a report could be handed to the government for the effective implementation of the Working Journalists Act.
"Office bearers and central members of the FNJ have been strongly discouraged to be media owners in a bid to increase incentives to the journalists," he confided. He further argued that if the FNJ became a home to the honest and clean journalists, it would help a lot to implement the minimum wage effectively.
Other journalists in the district also pointed out the need of increase in payment, and professional journalists.
