The Information & Broadcasting Ministry and Press Information Bureau has started an initiative to provide assistance to families of journalists who have lost their lives due to the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
“Today, the Central Government approved a proposal of Journalist Welfare Scheme Committee headed by Amit Khare, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, to provide financial relief of ₹5 lakh to each of the families of 26 journalists who died due to Covid-19. In the financial year 2020-21, the Central Government provided such assistance to 41 families of the journalists deceased due to Covid taking the total number to 67,” the Ministry said in a statement.
PIB has also pro-actively reached out to the families of many journalists who lost their lives to Covid-19 and also guided them about the scheme and filing of claims, it added.
The committee also decided to hold meetings on weekly basis so that applications for financial assistance under the scheme can be processed expeditiously. “The Committee today also considered applications of 11 families of those journalists who had passed away due to reasons other than Covid-19,” the statement added.