New Delhi, Feb 13
Minister of State for
Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Friday said
women in media would be better off pursuing off-field roles like that of
news analysis as opposed to field reporting in view of safety,
challenging conditions and odd hours of work.
In contrast to the
"reducing importance" of factual news business practiced by TV
journalism, Rathore called for women scribes to take to print that is
more about "analysis of the implication of the news".
In print,
"your (women journalists) role could be far better utilized without
going out in the field. Not that you should not go out. In the sense of
safety and security, the working hours, conditions, and different roles
attached as a mother, sister, or a wife," Rathore told women
journalists in a media interaction at Indian Women's Press Corps here.
Stressing
the fact that his suggestion was free of any gender bias, he said
avenues "like sports, battlefields, Maoist-infested areas become issues
for women journalists to be present there".
Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore Friday
described controversial remarks by fringe elements within the Sangh
Parivar as "not the majority opinion" and said a response to them from
the prime minister would be akin to ascribing them undue importance.
Addressing
the media at the Indian Women's Press Corps here, Rathore said the
government was mindful of the fringe elements as their actions "seem to
reflect on us" (the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government.
However, he deemed it unfit to expect statements from the prime minister because it would mean giving them undue importance.
"Every
time, a fringe element speaks anywhere, (the expectation that) the
response to that should come from the prime minster is giving it too
much of importance. The government with so many ministries is telling
that this is our path, if one among them takes a wrong step, please make
a hue and cry then.
"They (hate speeches by fringe elements) are
not the majority opinions. The government is taking steps to curb it,"
said Rathore, who is the minister of state for information and
broadcasting.
Hate speeches by union minister Sadhvi Niranjan
Jyoti and BJP's Unnao MP Sakshi Maharaj in the run up to the Delhi
elections are believed to have caused a visible dent on Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's vision of "sabka saath, sabka vikas (together with all,
development for all)" as well as contributed to the electoral drubbing
the party faced in the national capital.
Following the loss in
Delhi where the BJP secured mere three seats in a 70-member assembly,
long-time ally Shiromani Akali Dal blamed the hardline policies of the
BJP, including Jyoti who reportedly called upon the voters in Delhi to
choose between the "followers of Lord Ram" and the "illegitimate sons"
at an election rally in December 2014.
Nonetheless, Rathore said,
"the prime minister issued show-cause notices to these people and have
been asked to restrain themselves".
