Govt plans to provide internet access to every home, school and ward office

Kathmandu / Feb 18: Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Parbat Gurung on Thursday said that the government has a plan to expand the internet service to each home, school and ward office in the country.

At an interaction with journalists at Singha Durbar, the minister said that the internet service will be expanded to every home, school and ward level.

The minister also urged the bodies concerned to give suggestions on the topics to be included from the journalism sector in the government’s upcoming policies and programs, and the budget.

The minister also vowed to resolve the problems seen in the media sector and sought suggestions for the same.

“Many improvements along with policy reforms have to be done in the media sector. The suggestions from experts in the sector are needed for that,” Minister Gurung, who is also the government spokesperson, said.

He expressed commitment to address the issues faced by journalists from the remote districts also due to the problems seen in telecommunication.

Pointing out that Nepali journalism is also plagued by anarchy and aberration to some extent, the minister, however, said that all should not be lumped together and seen from the same perspective.

“Questions have been raised on its credibility and time has come for also measuring its quality,” he said, making an assessment of journalism.

On the occasion, president of the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), Govinda Acharya said that the FNJ has always been fighting for the rights of the journalists and it would be doing so in the coming days as well.

A member of the Advertisement Board, Balaram Thapa said the problem seen in the public welfare advertisement would be addressed on the basis of the suggestions from every district.

FNJ Saptari Chapter President Jitendra Khadga called for making arrangements for the payment of the amount given for publishing the public welfare advertisements from the districts itself. FNJ Jhapa Chapter President Taramani Sapkota demanded that provisions be made for registering the media at all levels- federal, provincial and local.

FNJ Syangja Chapter president Om Prakash Sharma called for providing scholarships to journalists to study journalism at a higher level. Secretary of the FNJ, Sheetal Prasad Mahato, stressed the need for making the media inclusive in content and participation. RSS