November 16 is celebrated as National Press Day to commemorate the establishment of the Press Council of India. It was formed in 1966 to keep a check on Indian press' standards and that is not affected or influenced by external factors. National Press Day is believed to showcase the responsible and free press in the country.  Meanwhile, Twitterati including politicians, leaders, journalists among others has taken to Twitter sending National Press Day wishes.

The Press Council organises various seminars commemorating the day. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will inaugurate the National Press Day celebrations in New Delhi today. The event will also be attended by delegates from neighbouring Press Councils of SAARC countries - Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Here are some of the tweets:

In 1956, the Press Council of India was formed by the Parliament on the recommendations of the First Press Commission.

While appealing for a Press Council, the commission had said that the best way of maintaining professional ethics in journalism would be to bring into existence "a body with statutory authority, of people principally connected with an industry whose duty it would be to arbitrate".

National Press Day has been witnessing seminars since the year 1997.

The Press Council of India was first constituted on July 4, 1966 as an autonomous, statutory, quasi-judicial body, with Justice J R Mudholkar, then a Judge of the Supreme Court, as Chairman.

Press Council of India Chairman CK Prasad on Thursday said that the winners of the National Awards for Excellence in Journalism will be honoured at the event held on Friday. Journalist and Chairman of the Hindu Publishing Group, N Ram has been chosen for the category of Raja Ram Mohan Roy award. Ruby Sarkar, Chief Correspondent of Deshbandhu, Bhopal and Rajesh Joshte of Daily Pudhari in Ratnagiri will share the award in the category of Rural Journalism. The selection was conducted by a jury comprising of working journalists, and senior editors, among others.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 16, 2018 11:47 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).