The Assam Union of Working Journalists (Assam Barta Jibi Sangha) has urged the state government to expand welfare measures for journalists, citing West Bengal’s recent decision to increase pension benefits and provide health insurance and a Durga Puja grant to media professionals.
In a statement, union president Madhusudhan Medhi and general secretary Anjan Kumar Sarma urged Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to introduce similar measures for journalists in the state.
The West Bengal government recently announced a monthly pension of Rs 5,000 for retired journalists, up from Rs 2,500, along with health insurance and a Rs 3,000 Puja grant for working journalists.
The Assam union said journalists continued to face gaps in healthcare, retirement benefits and official accreditation despite their role in communicating government programmes and public concerns.
Assam has operated a pension scheme for retired journalists since 2017. The union sought an increase in both the number of beneficiaries and the pension amount, besides a comprehensive health insurance scheme to help journalists meet medical expenses.
It also questioned the effectiveness of the existing Journalist Medical Welfare Scheme under the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), claiming that reimbursements remained limited and meetings of its review committee were no longer held regularly.
The union said several working journalists were still awaiting DIPR identity cards despite repeated applications, with some senior journalists nearing retirement without official accreditation.
According to the union, it raised the issue with Chief Minister Sarma on July 4. It claimed that although the Principal Secretary later directed the DIPR Director to take action, there had been no significant progress even after two months.
The union sought immediate intervention by the DIPR Commissioner and Director and called for the dissolution and reconstitution of government committees that were no longer functioning effectively on journalist welfare.
It also urged the government to announce the next phase of its journalist pension scheme on January 1, as in previous years, while addressing wider social security concerns affecting media workers in Assam.
