MIB nominates 13 working journalists to Press Council of India

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has nominated 13 working journalists to the Press Council of India (PCI), including six editors and seven journalists from categories other than editors.

The nominations were notified by the central government on October 7 under the Press Council Act, 1978. The notification amends the earlier government notification issued in December 2024, which was subsequently amended in December 2025.

Under the new notification, Pradeep Kumar Jain, Sayed Raza Husain Rizvi, Ankur Dua, Aparna Shukla, Raj Parwana/Narender Singh and Vinod Bajpai have been nominated in the category of working journalists – editors.

The seven nominees in the working journalists – other than editors category are Vinod Kohli, Geetartha Pathak, Prajnananda Chaudhuri, Kingshuk Pramanik, C.K. Nayak, Prasanna Kumar Mohanty and Bijoy Kakchingtabam.

The nominations have been made under clause (a) of sub-section (3) of Section 5 of the Press Council Act, read with sub-section (1) of Section 6. The notification was issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting through Joint Secretary K.K. Nirala.

The latest notification effectively inserts separate headings and entries for working journalists who are editors and those who are not editors into the existing composition of the Press Council. The amendment comes ahead of the existing category of members drawn from people who own or carry on the business of managing newspapers.

The Press Council of India is a statutory body constituted under the Press Council Act, 1978. The latest government order does not indicate any change to the council's mandate or powers, but updates its membership by formally nominating the 13 working journalists.

The six members nominated under the editors' category are from different parts of the country, including Raipur, Gonda, Muzaffarnagar, Kanpur and Delhi. The seven-member non-editor working journalist category similarly includes representation from Chandigarh, Guwahati, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Imphal.

The government notification also records the history of the underlying appointment order. The principal notification was issued on December 19, 2024 and published in the Gazette of India on December 20, 2024. It was subsequently amended through another notification dated December 2, 2025.

The notification names the following members:

Working journalists – editors: Pradeep Kumar Jain, Sayed Raza Husain Rizvi, Ankur Dua, Aparna Shukla, Raj Parwana/Narender Singh and Vinod Bajpai.

Working journalists – other than editors: Vinod Kohli, Geetartha Pathak, Prajnananda Chaudhuri, Kingshuk Pramanik, C.K. Nayak, Prasanna Kumar Mohanty and Bijoy Kakchingtabam.