Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Directs officials to look into the problems of Newspapers across the country

New Delhi: Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Railways, and Electronics & IT, Ashwani Vaishnaw, has directed the Registrar General of Newspapers for India and the Director General of the Central Bureau of Communication to take necessary steps towards resolving the current issues faced by newspapers across the country. Vaishnaw issued these instructions after a delegation from the All India Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association (AINPEA) brought the ongoing challenges of newspapers to his attention during a meeting on Tuesday.
The delegation, led by the Association’s Convener and senior editor Kamal Kishore, included notable figures such as Ashok Kumar, Shriram Ambasht, Ved Prakash, Himanshu Shekhar, Madhukar Singh, Nityanand Shukla, Devendra Rai, Digvijay Singh, Sanjay Poddar, Saket Kumar, Kaustubh Kishore, Anas Rehnuma, Shami Ahmed, Faiz Akram, and Khurshid Ahmed. They met the Union Minister to discuss the current issues faced by newspapers.
During the meeting, the delegation presented their concerns, which were carefully heard by the Minister. Vaishnaw acknowledged the difficulties being faced by newspapers and assured that immediate relief would be provided. He directed officials to place an immediate halt on the complex provisions of the PRGI Act 2023. The Minister emphasized that maintaining independent and impartial journalism in the country is a top priority for the government, and that the role of small and medium newspapers is crucial in a functioning democracy. Vaishnaw said that certain provisions of the PRGI Act 2023 had caused operational challenges for newspapers, and the government was actively considering necessary amendments. He assured that measures would be taken to ensure that newspapers across the country could operate smoothly without any hindrances.

After the meeting with the Union Minister, the delegation also met Bhupendra Kanthola, the Registrar General of India’s Press, and Y.K. Baveja, the Director General of the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) at the Press Building. The delegation discussed the challenges faced by various newspapers in detail with both the officials. During this conversation, which lasted for about an hour and a half, the Press Registrar assured the publishers that amendments would be made to the PRGI Act, and the duration for verifying newspaper circulation would be extended.

The CBC Director General also assured the publishers that the validity period of rate cards issued by CBC would be considered for extension to help newspapers recover from financial crises. During the meeting, the delegation also submitted a memorandum of their demands to the concerned authorities and ministers. Since the implementation of the PRGI Act 2023, many small and medium newspapers have been facing an existential crisis. The complicated provisions of this law had created several operational difficulties for smaller publications.