Assam's DIPR Declares Journalists’ Pension For The Years 2024–25

GUWAHATI: On the eve of 78th Independence Day, the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), Assam, announced a list of twenty journalists for pension for the years 2024–25 under “The Assam Pension Scheme for Journalists”.

Altogether, 68 senior journalists across the state applied this year to avail of pension benefits under this scheme. The selected beneficiaries are Md. Tazuddin Ahmed (Nalbari), Sarat Chandra Neog (Dibrugarh), Kailash Choudhary (Kamrup-M), Krishna Upadhyaya (Tinsukia), Nipendra Nath Das (Kamrup-M), Dandi Ram Das (Nalbari), Dr. Phuritsabam Birmani (Kamrup-M), Santanu Goswami (Tinsukia), Bajranglal Agarwala (Nalbari), Anil Kumar Gupta (Sivasagar), Hemanta Kumar Dutta Purkayastha (Cachar), Kanak Hazarika (Nagaon), Jibon Chandra Dutta (Jorhat), Bhadreswar Gogoi (Dibrugarh), Mihir Debnath (Karimganj), Swapan Kumar Esh (Kokrajhar), Pulin Saha (Kamrup (M)), Arun Kumar Jha (Kamrup-M), Ananda Ramchiary (Tamulpur), and Pradip Kumar Kalita (Nalbari).

The “Assam Pension Scheme for Journalists” was first introduced in 2017-18 for the welfare of senior journalists on their retirement. The applicant is required to undergo superannuation as a journalist, and the scheme is valid throughout his lifetime.

An amount of Rs. 8,000 per month is provided as a pension to the retired journalists who served in Assam for at least 20 years. A pension shall ordinarily be valid until the lifetime of the recipient.

The benefit of the pension may be extended to the widow, widower, or minor children of the journalist at the rate of 50% of the pension after his or her demise. Till date, the government has awarded pension benefits to 140 journalists, a press release said.

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