Generous Mr Hooda

The Haryana government has been lauded for the organized and generous manner in which it has formulated its compensation policy for those whose land it acquires, and those whom government projects displace.

 

But now it has also come up with an organized and generous policy on compensation in an entirely different category, and that is raising eyebrows. It may be unkind to call it compensation, it is being packaged as a recognition of the important role journalists play in society.  

 

Last Tuesday Haryana’s chief minister Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda handed out cash awards to 153 journalists working for a string of big and small newspapers and television networks out of Delhi, Chandigarh and the state’s districts.
 

 

Described as the government’s recognition of the awardees’ "outstanding contribution to journalism," the Haryana Patrakar Puruskar Samman awards carry cash prizes ranging between Rs. 1.51 lakh and Rs. 21,000,  totaling over Rs. 40 lakh. The prizes, which included categories like ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’, "State Level Award’, ‘Special State Journalism Encouragement Award’, and two commemorative awards: the ‘Satpal Saini Award for Excellence in Journalism’ and ‘Rajender Hooda Memorial Journalistis Excellence Award, were given at a function at the Haryana Niwas in Chandigarh.

 

The thoughtful CM also announced a new university-level skill-upgradation facility and medical reimbursement for all journalists working in Haryana. The state already provides for special journalist quotas in all state housing board colonies, a media welfare fund administration scheme, group insurance, government accommodation at Chandigarh, free road and subsidized rail travel facilities.

 

The response of the newspapers provide interesting contrasts. The Indian Express scribes declined the awards stating accepting cash was against their company’s code of ethics for journalists. The Chandigarh Tribune editor gave the keynote address at the function, and journalists working for it accepted the awards. The Dainik Jagran reportedly ordered the award winner from its newspaper to hand over the cheque to its general manager!

 

Mr Hooda used the occasion to tut-tut about the new trend of paid news, with advertisements masquerading as news items. To quote from the press note issued on the occasion: "Mr Hooda also urged the newspapers not to publish such news as these mislead the people and erode the credibility of the newspaper." He also said, "today, our society had become media-ridden which has both benefits and disadvantages. However, an independent press has more benefits than disadvantages. He regretted that today editor of a newspaper did not enjoy as much powers as he used to enjoy before independence. At that time, editors themselves were the owners of the newspaper, but today, they were serving the proprietor of the newspaper." Presumably if your state’s chief minister publicly awards recognition of your true worth, that too in cash, it will help you stand up to your proprietor.

 

He also cautioned that commercialisation should not be allowed to overpower journalism.

 

The additional principal chief secretary to the chief minister said that the journalists for the awards had been selected by a committee of journalists, and that Haryana was the first State in the country, where seven awards were given at district level.

 

District level journalists are treated differently by different media houses. Some pay them salaries, some expect them to earn their keep by procuring advertisements for the newspaper. Some of them are possible tireless souls whose dedication needs to be recognized and rewarded. But surely not by the state government whose level of governance they are supposed to report on? And of all the people the state government can find to spend Rs 40 lakh on, surely journalists are not the most needy?

 

 

 

 

Chandigarh, Sept 20??"Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda will give away 153 awards to the media persons based at New Delhi, Chandigarh and also Haryana based noted journalists covering Haryana State for their outstanding contribution to journalism in a State level Patrakar Puruskar Samman Samaroh function to be organised at Haryana Niwas here tomorrow.

 

While stating this here today, an official spokesman said that the function is being organized by Haryana Information, Public Relation and Cultural Affairs Department.

 

He said that out of the total awards, there would be three Life Time Achievement Awards, two State Level Commemorative Awards, 12 State level awards and 16 Special State Journalism Encouragement Awards for journalists based at New Delhi and Chandigarh covering Haryana. There would also be 120 district level awards.

 

He said that Life Time Achievement Awards would be conferred upon Mr N.S. Parwana, Special Correspondent, Punjab Kesari, Chandigarh and Ajit Punjabi, Jallandhar, Mr B.K. Chum, Free Lancer, Chandigarh and Mr Manmohan Sharma, Special Correspondent, Punjab Kesari, Delhi. The award carried Rs 1.51 lakh in cash, a commendation certificate, a memento and a shawl, he added.

 

He said that Commemorative Awards, namely Shri Satpal Saini Award for Excellence in Journalism and Shri Rajender Hooda Memorial Journalist Excellence Award would be conferred upon Mr Sushil Manav, Staff Correspondent, The Tribune, Fatehabad and Mr Ramesh Vinayak, the then Group Bureau Chief, India Today, Chandigarh and now Resident Editor of Hindustan Times respectively. These awards carried Rs one lakh each in cash, a commendation certificate, a memento and a shawl.

 

Each of the 12 State level awards for Journalists based at New Delhi and Chandigarh carried Rs 51,000 in cash, a commendation certificate, a memento and a shawl. Special State Journalism Encouragement Award being given to 12 print media and three electronic media journalists carried award money of Rs 41,000 whereas each of the 120 district level awards carried Rs 21,000 in cash, a commendation certificate, a memento and a shawl, he added.

 

He said that the State level awards would be given to Mr Rajender Khatri, Principal Correspondent, Indian Express, Mr Bijender Ahlawat, Sr. Staff Correspondent, The Tribune, Faridabad, Mr Rajesh Chugh, Chief Sub Editor, Dainik Jagran, Hisar, Mr Naval Kishore Rastogi, Free Lancer, Rewari, Mrs Nisha Sharma, Principal Correspondent, Rashtriya Sahara, Mr Surender Dhiman, Principal  Correspondent, Nav Bharat Times, Chandigarh, Mr Sandeep Joshi, Chief Artist, The Tribune trust, Chandigarh, Mr Vinay Malik, Staff Photographer, The Tribune, Chandigarh, Ms. Poonam Batth, Special Correspondent, Times Now, Chandigarh, Mr Brij Mohan Singh, Spl. Correspondent, NDTV, Chandigarh, Mr Ajit Singh, Free Lancer,Director News(retd.), Doordarshan, Hisar, Mr Vipin Grover, Cameraman, Total TV, Jind.

 

Special State Journalism Encouragement Award would be given to Bureau Chief, PTI, Mr Ashwani Anand, Bureau Chief, UNI Mr V.K. Jalali, Mr Devendra Uppal, Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Hisar, Mr Yashvir Kadyan, Bureau Chief, Aaj Samaj, Chandigarh, Mr Pramod Vashist, Special Correspondent, Dainik Bhaskar, Chandigarh, Mr Deepak Bansal, Staff Reporter, Punjab Kesari (JLD), Chandigarh, Mr Hitender Rao, Special Correspondent, The Hindustan Times, Chandigarh, Mr Ramesh Saini, Press Correspondent, Karnal, Mr Rajender Raj, Bureau Chief, Hari Bhoomi, Mr Kapil Chadha, Correspondent, Dainik Bhaskar, Mr. S.D. Sharma, Cultural Correspondent, The Tribune, Mr Manvir Saini, Principal Correspondent, Times of India and Mr C.B. Singh, Correspondent, Indian Express in print media category of this award. Mr Satender Chauhan, Principal Correspondent, Aaj Tak, Chandigarh, Mr Rakesh Gupta, Bureau Chief, Haryana News, Chandigarh, Mr Suraj Bhardwaj, Bureau Chief, MH One News, Chandigarh would be awarded in electronic media category of Special State Journalism Encouragement Award.      

 

 The spokesman said that the district level awards would be given to Dev Sarup Mathur, Reporter, Yoginder Sharma, Chief Reporter, Avinash Pandey, Staff Reporter, Rajinder Bhatnagar Suman, Part Time Correspondent, Jangbir Singh Goyat, Bureau Chief, Pawan Kumar Mittal, Editor, Purvi Punjab, Narender Singh Khyaliya, Stringer, Ashok Bhatti, Correspondent, Indervesh Duhan, Correspondent, Vijay Kumar Mishra, Subhash Dagar, Sr. Reporter, Uttam Raj, Editor, Chitranjan Singh, Reporter, Mohd. Harun, Correspondent, Himani Sethi, Sanjay Ahuja, Staff Reporter, Bhuvnesh Jhandai, Correspondent, Randhir Singh Matana, Correspondent, Narinder Kumar Madan, Photographer, Ashok Grover, Reporter, Dharmender Goswami, Stringer, Ashok Sharma, Correspondent, Anoop Jha, Chief of Bureau, Pardeep Malik, Staff Reporter, Yad Ram Bansal, Correspondent, Tanushree Roy Chaudhary, Staff Reporter, Pawan Kumar Narwal, Photographer, Roshan Bhardwaj, Reporter, Aarti Kapoor, Staff Correspondent, The Tribune, Raj Verma, Correspondent, Surender Singh Dalal, Staff Reporter, D.S.Yadav, Sr. Correspondent, Sanyam Jain, Reporter, Arunesh Kumar, Chief Reporter, Gulshan Bajaj, Photographer, Vinod Kumar, News Editor, Ravinder Saini, Correspondent, Dr. Parveen Khurana, Chief of Bureau, Bijender Kumar, Reporter, Hitender Gujjar, Chief of Bureau, Ram Kumar Verma, Photographer, Parveen Dhankhar, Correspondent, Jasmer Malik, Bureau Chief, Raj Kumar Goyal, Reporter, Jitender Boora, Correspondent,  Daler Singh, Distt. Correspondent, Rajesh Sharma, Photographer, Satish Kumar Seth, Correspondent, Ram Kumar Bhatt, Bureau Chief, Mahi Pal Singh, Sr. Correspondent, Ramesh Goyat, Bureau Chief, Bhagwan Dass, Photographer, Naveen Malhotra, Stringer, Pawan Bhatt, Correspondent,  Parveen Arora, Reporter, Dilbag Lathar, Reporter, Vikash Sukhija, Correspondent, Narender Lathar, Reporter, Dharam Singh, Photographer,  Sunny Choudhary, Sr. Cameraman, Narender Singh, Bureau Chief, Vijay Shah,Staff Reporter, Vinod Jindal, Correspondent, Rajesh Chauhan, Correspondent, Rajesh Kumar Photographer, Ashok Yadav, Correspondent, Rohtash Yadav, Chief Reporter, Dharam Narayan Sharma,Chief of Bureau, Asim Rao, Incharge, Pawan Sharma, Reporter, Chand Kishore Sharma, Photographer, Subhash Yadav, Correspondent, Jugender Verma, Reporter, Sher Singh Dagar, Staff Reporter, Kshama Jain, Correspondent, Ramesh Singla, Correspondent, Jafruddin Illyasi, Correspondent, Tahir Hussain, Photographer, Kasim Khan, Correspondent, Yunus Alwi, Reporter, Jitender Bhardwaj, Sr. Correspondent, Deep Shikha, Reporter, Rajesh Malkania, Correspondent, Rajesh Kumar Dhull, Staff Reporter, Baba Hanumant Sidh, Reporter, P.P. Verma, Reporter, Vijay Gahlyan, Chief Correspondent, Pardeep Jakhar, Correspondent, Surender Singh Sangwan, Sr. Staff Correspondent, Virender Kumar Neetu, Correspondent, Vikas  Choudhary, Bureau Chief, Happy Budhiraja, Photographer, Rajni Gupta, Part Time Correspondent, Mahesh Kumar Vaid, Sr. Reporter, Tarun Jain, Correspondent, Pardeep Narayan, Chief of Bureau, Rakesh Gautam, Chief of Bureau, Sanjeev Sharma, Chief of Bureau, Naresh Selpad, Correspondent, Bijender Singh Dahiya, Reporter, Manoj Dhaka, photographer, Dherender Kumar, Bureau Chief, Manikant Manyak, Correspondent, Bhushan Sharma, Correspondent, Sudhir Arya, Correspondent,  Navdeep Setia, Correspondent, Mahinder Kumar Ghanghas, Photographer, Dr. Gulab Singh Sihag, Reporter, Baljit Singh, Reporter, Parvesh Gahlot, Correspondent, Sarika Narwal, Correspondent, Sanjiv Dixit, Bureau Chief, Harender Rapria, Sub Editor, Bhavya Naresh, Photographer, Indu  Bansal, Correspondent, Surender Mehta, Reporter, R.K. Jain, Reporter, Sanjeev Kamboj, Correspondent, O.P. Nagpal, Correspondent, Nabh Singh Malik, Correspondent.