Manish Tewari lays emphasis on need for more trained Urdu journalists

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari has called for capacity building and skill development in Urdu journalism.

Tewari, who was speaking at the All-India Conference of Urdu Editors on Sunday, said he would speak to Information and Broadcasting Secretary U.K. Varma and Indian Institute of Mass Communication Director Sunit Tandon regarding running Urdu specific journalism courses.

Several leaders, including Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, emphasized on the need to promote Urdu language and journalism.

Digvijay Singh said Urdu belonged to all and not a specific community, and added that as a Chief Minister he provided teachers if 30 students in any school wanted to be taught Urdu.

"We have constituted a committee. Additional Secretary in our ministry J S Mathur is the chairman of this committee. So, along with rate revision, which is done every two to three years, I have asked him to re look at the parameters on basis of which government distributes advertisements," Singh said.

"As per my understanding, the policy is based on who has how much circulation and based on this we classify small, medium and large newspapers and pay accordingly," he added.

Former Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan, who was also present on the occasion, said that during his tenure he had earmarked 25 percent of the advertising budget for Urdu publications. He said there was need to support smaller papers.