The government yesterday constituted a cabinet committee headed by the Cultural Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Azad for seeking recommendation for the execution of the proposed eighth wage board for journalists and employees at newspapers and news agencies.
The six-member committee has been asked to prepare and submit its suggestions to the cabinet division within a month, according to which the new wage structure will be fixed.
The other members of the committee are Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader, Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Environment and Forest Minister Hassan Mahmud and State Minister for Housing and Public Works Abdul Mannan Khan.
Khondakar Iftekhar Haidar, additional secretary of the cabinet division informed the media of the development at a briefing on a regular cabinet meeting at the secretariat.
The meeting, held at the prime minister's office on Monday was chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The additional secretary said: "The cabinet has agreed the eighth wage board's recommendation of increasing the minimum wages for journalists by 70% of the basic wages under the current seventh wage board."
"But, considering the disputes among journalist leaders, the government has decided to constitute the committee to review the recommendations," he said.
Iftekhar said, according the eighth wage board's recommendation, the minimum wages structure will be divided into 15 categories compared to the existing nine categories in the seventh wage board.
As per the recommendation of the eighth wage board, the newspapers of the country will be classified into five categories according to their circulations.
Meanwhile, the highest basic wage for journalists will be raised to Tk55,850 from the current Tk34,850 while minimum wages will be increased to Tk5,615 from Tk3,700.
Journalists living in Dhaka and Chittagong cities will get 70% of their basics as house rent while rest of the journalists will get 60%. However, low paid employees of the newspapers will get 75% of their basic as house rent.
Medical allowances of all newspaper journalists and employees will be increased to taka 1,500 from taka 1,000.
The additional secretary said, most importantly, under the proposed wage board, the rural and root-level journalists will get taka 3,500 as monthly retainer allowances, taka 1,500 on conveyances, two annual festival allowances and taka 1,000 as monthly medical allowance.
A tripartite committee including the representatives of the government, journalist and owners of the newspapers will monitor the implementation of the eighth wages board's recommendations.
The committee will be effective for a two-year period, which can be extended by the government.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
