Srinagar, Dec 27 (KNS): As the Director of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) has enforced stringent guidelines on news organizations for qualifying for the release of advertisements, axe is likely to fall on around ten thousand newspapers across India including Jammu and Kashmir, KNS has learnt.
Top officials revealed to KNS on Tuesday that Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) and The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) have taken stringent measures for the news papers to qualify for the release of advertisements from government of India for which they have devised procedure.
The officials said there are around ten thousand news papers across India which may not qualify these measures as a result they would face a grinding halt. In Jammu and Kashmir, over 500 news papers are being published in the state.
“Majority of the newspapers don’t qualify these new guidelines and may face closure. These papers have little circulation and are entirely dependent on government advertisements,” the official said.
As per the sources, the DAVP has placed minimum 45 points which a publication has to necessarily qualify for release of the government of India advertisements.
These measures have been taken by government of India to stop the mushroom growth of these papers which do not contribute to the society.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
But contrary to this, these all publishers with their staff may render jobless and force them to shift to other professions for which they don’t have professionalism.
The sources in DAVP have stated that a new paper must obtain 45 points which are detailed as that a news paper must have a minimum, of 8 pages, must have subscribed to PTI or UNI and must have obtained Employees provident fund etc. And also must own printing press or its circulation should be certified by the owner of the printing press.
By this standard majority news papers may not qualify these points as a result may face closure.
Most of the news paper owners have already opposed the ‘Advertisement Policy’ framed by the state government.
“We have been waiting for empanelment of our newspapers for years now and when it was time to hold meeting vis-à-vis empanelment for government advertisements, a new policy was framed that not only shattered our dreams but we lost our money worth lakhs we had spent on publication over the years. Now union government’s guidelines will further compound our problems,” an editor of a newspaper said which has a very little circulation. (KNS)