Our Correspondent
Kohima, Oct. 12 (EMN): Six months after Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio announced to double the operational subsidy and ex-gratia for accredited journalists in Nagaland, the state government has notified the revised entitlement of accredited journalists with immediate effect.
The department of Information and Public Relations in a notification dated Oct. 5, stated that Governor PB Acharya has given assent to amend the Nagaland Accredited Private Journalists Assistance (Operational Subsidy) Scheme 2010. With the announcement, the entitlement of monthly operational subsidy for all accredited journalists of the state, who are not employed in government or public sector media organisations, will be doubled from the existing amount of INR 2000 to INR 4000 for journalists with less than five years accreditation, and INR 3000 to INR 6000 for journalists with more than five years accreditation.
Earlier in March, Chief Minister Rio made the announcement while delivering his budget speech in the state assembly. He acknowledged that the press and media fraternity of the state has made significant contributions towards strengthening of democratic foundations in Nagaland and has maintained a positive reputation for the fourth estate in this region of the country.
Mention may be made here that the accredited journalists operational assistance scheme was introduced in 2007 when Rio was the chief minister during the then DAN-I government.
