Beaming with pride, they pose on the steps of the Kerala Legislative Assembly building for a photo shoot. Despite rubbing shoulders with political heavyweights of the State in the corridors of power, these people don’t make it to the headlines or talk shows. However, the work they do might shape the headlines of the day. Staff members of the Editing Branch, their department, comprising the best of short hand writers, record happenings in the highest law-making body of the State.
Their job profile reads: preparing verbatim proceedings of the Assembly, that is full text of the deliberations in the house, gleaning or summary of the Question Hour session, synopsis of the proceedings, select decisions or rulings from the Speaker and index. All these are brought out in print as well.
Beginning their day in office as early as 7.30 a.m. when the Assembly is in session, as is it now, their working hours can go up to 8 p.m. “The Question Hour starts at 8.30 a.m. so we’ve to report one hour before that. Usually a day’s session goes up to 4 p.m. (except on Fridays). But we stay back till 8 to 8.30 p.m., since we have to send gleanings from the Question Hour and synopsis of the proceedings for print on the same day so that it is distributed among members of the Assembly within 24 hours. They have to be made available on the official website too,” says Usha V. Damodar, Chief Editor of the wing, who has put in 30 years of service.
When the session is in progress, four from the section are present in the house, seated right at the centre – one reporter each for Malayalam and English, a reporter assigned to write the synopsis, and a senior official. The Malayalam reporters change after every 10 minutes; English reporters and the one who writes synopsis take their turn after every half-an-hour. “The replacement hand reports two minutes before his allotted time and the one replaced leaves two minutes after the new one takes over. This is to ensure the continuity of proceedings,” says R. Suseela Kumari, Joint Chief Editor, who has also been working in the section for three decades.
Specialised job
It is a highly specialised job which involves immense pressure. “We shouldn’t lose track of the topics which come up on the floor of the house. We’ve to be apolitical as well. Deadlines have to be met, before which clarifications have to be made by contacting the concerned office/department. Nobody trains us for the job. We learn by trial and error, with guidance from seniors,” says L. Radhakrishnan, a Selection Grade Higher Grade reporter. Verbatim proceedings are sent to the Minister/member concerned for approval and return. Corrections are carried out in the official copy. Sometimes certain portions have to be removed based on directions issued by the Speaker. Everything goes to print only after proof reading at multiple levels. They are expected to report everything, irrespective of the pandemonium in the house. “Sometimes members barge into the well of the house to stop the proceedings. Books are hurled or attempts are made to snatch books from us so as to stall the session. But we’ve to remain unruffled,” says Mahendra Kumar, a Deputy Chief Editor.
Technology helps, as they can cross-check the proceedings by listening to it again. However, dialects and slang do pose problems. “Also, there are certain members who are not audible. We’ve to follow their lip movements or their actions,” says D. Satheesh Kumar, a Deputy Chief Editor.
Women outnumber men by many times in the wing. Of the 72 staff (10 are vacant), only 10 are men. “It is an honour definitely. But it is quite tough especially when we have to stay back for long hours with a family waiting at home,” says Usha.
It’s not that they relax when the Assembly is not in session (the State assembly has an average of 60 sittings a year, perhaps the largest in the country). The reporters move around with the 37 Legislative Committees, which meet three or four times a month. They have to prepare verbatim minutes of these meetings, including those held outside the capital city.
If these meetings are convened during Assembly sessions, they have to attend the session as well as these meetings. In addition, they are sent to cover different high-level meetings, seminars or workshops inside the Assembly complex. They also report important government-level meetings or conferences happening outside the Assembly.
Lack of computers and Internet facility are problems. “We are also upset by the anomalies in our pay scale. We are not treated as Secretariat employees and the recent pay revision in the service didn’t apply to us,” say the group.
But, all said and done, it is a dream job. “This job is the ultimate aim of all those people who learn typewriting and shorthand. It holds a lot of prestige, as we have the right to enter the Assembly and move with the august circle of law-makers,” says Deepa R.S. Nair, a Senior Grade Reporter. Most of them have struck an emotional bond with the job as well. “When a member passes away, we are the ones who are hurt the most. It was heart-breaking to sit in the house after E.K. Nayanar passed away. There are many leaders who astound us with their oratory skills. Sadly, the present Assembly has only a few like that,” says P. Ramachandran, Selection Grade Higher Grade Reporter.
For the record
The prescribed academic qualification for the post of reporter is graduation, typewriting Higher Grade, shorthand Higher Grade and Computer Word Processing. The Chief Editor (CE) has overall control over the Editing Branch and holds charge of the entire publications connected with the Assembly session. The staff pattern under CE is one Joint Chief Editor, seven Deputy Chief Editors, eight Editor of Debates and reporters who fall into four grades – Selection Grade, Senior Grade, First Grade and Second Grade. There are 39 Malayalam reporters, 15 English reporters and one English-cum-Tamil reporter.
Full reporting of the Assembly proceedings started in 1921. Till 1939, the Assembly used to meet at the VJT Hall. “There wasn’t any mike then and so the reporters had to sit close to the member and take down what he said,” says K. Mohanakumar, special private secretary to the Speaker. Among the first reporters were Srinivasa Rao, P. Narayana Iyer, K. Mahadeva Iyer, Rama Subramania Iyer, S. Simon and P. Suryanarayana Iyer. Their pay was in the range of Rs. 40 to 80.
The first Chief Editor of the wing was a woman, Parvathi Ammal. Rajamma has been the longest serving CE of the wing till date (11 years).
