The Chennai Press Club has thanked M. K. Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, for accepting and fulfilling several key demands related to the welfare of journalists. Office bearers of the Chennai Press Club met the Chief Minister at the Secretariat in Chennai on March 13 and submitted a memorandum outlining various demands concerning journalists’ welfare. Following the meeting, the Chief Minister approved several of the requests and issued announcements to implement them. As part of the decisions, the monthly pension for journalists has been increased from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 15,000, while the family pension has been raised from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 7,500. The government has also ordered that health insurance cards be issued to all journalists. One of the major demands of the Chennai Press Club, the provision of house sites for journalists, has also been accepted. The government has announced that arrangements will be made to provide house sites to journalists in Chengalpattu distric

    The Chandigarh Press Club has strongly condemned the derogatory and inappropriate language allegedly used by Punjab MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira against senior journalist Jyoti Malhotra, Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune. In a statement, the club said that while disagreement with a journalist’s reporting or opinion is a legitimate part of democratic discourse, it must be expressed in a civil and responsible manner. It termed the remark made in a tweet as “highly derogatory and unacceptable,” adding that such language undermines the dignity of individuals and weakens standards of public discourse. The club urged political leaders to maintain restraint and respect while criticising the media, stressing that differences of opinion should not descend into personal attacks, especially when directed at women journalists. Reaffirming its stand, the Chandigarh Press Club said it stands firmly with the journalistic community in defending the dignity of the media.        

Upendra Rai, CMD and Editor-in-Chief of Bharat Express, announced plans to restart the channels of Sahara News Network and expand Rashtriya Sahara at the broadcaster’s third anniversary conclave held on March 9. He described the move as a major expansion for the network. According to Best Media Info , Rai said all Sahara news assets would be revived, with Rashtriya Sahara likely to return within a month. The combined network is expected to operate 13 news channel licences. As per Sahara’s media page, Sahara Samay is a 24x7 national Hindi news channel, while Aalami Sahara is a 24x7 Urdu news channel, along with five regional Hindi news channels. Launched on February 1, 2023, Bharat Express debuted in the presence of Uday Shankar. Rai also outlined plans to publish the newspaper from 20 cities initially, expanding to 30 later, and to strengthen its digital platform with an AI-led news grid. However, the announcement did not specify ownership, financing, or operational det

Last week, the Supreme Court of India had agreed to examine what constitutes 'personal data' under the recently notified Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, which has been accused of using data privacy to block the citizen's legitimate right to information besides various other infringements on media freedom. A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the need to define ‘public data’ and ‘personal data’ has arisen following the implementation of the DPDP Actand its corresponding Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025. The court issued formal notice to the Union government on a petition filed by The Reporters' Collective, Software Freedom Law Center among others. "We believe, the government has surreptitiously and wrongfully shrunk our rights as citizen to access information for public purpose and to hold it and other powerful people accountable to citizens through the Digital Personal Data Prote

Happy faces as Vijayawada schools let students go home early, switch to half-day sessions to beat the heat – picture by K.V.S Giri – The Hindu Freedom of Religion Bill 2026 passed in Maharashtra The Maharashtra Assembly has passed the Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill 2026, with the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Sena supporting the bill, breaking ranks with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. The bill regulates religious conversion in the state. The Congress and the Samajwadi Party have opposed the bill, while the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) MLAs have taken a mixed stand on it. The Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill 2026 says that any religious conversion made through ‘allurement, coercion, deceit, force, misrepresentation, threat, undue influence or fraudulent means’ would be null and void. It makes any such offence cognizable and non-bailable and prescribes up to 7 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh for such unlawful conversion, writes Krishna Ku

The Karnataka Union of Working Journalists has invited applications for membership through its district units. In a statement, the union said working journalists can apply for membership by submitting their applications along with the required supporting documents through the respective taluk units. The applications will then be forwarded by the district units for further consideration. The union clarified that the decisions taken by the district units and the state body regarding membership will be final.

Press Information Bureau Hyderabad will organise “Vartalap – media workshop for journalists” in Sangareddy on March 17 at 10 am at the Zilla Parishad Meeting Hall. P Pravinya, Collector of Sangareddy district, will attend as the chief guest. The workshop will include sessions on gender based violence, key Central government schemes for women and the use of artificial intelligence in journalism. Sessions will be led by journalist Sajaya Kakarla and fact check trainer Satya Priya BN. Journalists from the district have been invited to participate in the programme.