Centre to provide financial assistance to families of journalists' who succumbed to COVID

Efforts of journalists and many other media personnel who have been performing their duties despite the threat of COVID-19 have often gone unnoticed or not lauded although the country praises the efforts of the frontline workers who have been involved at the forefront of this deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

However, in a heartening development, the Government of India has decided to give financial assistance to families of journalists who lost their lives to COVID-19 due to their professional obligations. The Government will provide financial relief of Rs.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 who succumbed to COVID-19, taking the total number to 67.

According to a government release, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Press Information Bureau has compiled and collated the details of journalists who lost their lives due to the pandemic in the years 2020 & 2021 and started a special drive to provide assistance to their families under the Journalist Welfare Scheme. The Press Information Bureau 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.

Journalists as frontline workers

Journalists were earlier not considered as frontline workers, however, several state governments across the country deemed it necessary to put them under the category of frontline workers, so they can also avail the necessary facilities which are allotted to frontline workers, which also includes the personnel from state and central police organisation, Armed Forces, home guards and civil defence volunteers including disaster management volunteers and municipal workers, prison staff, revenue officials engaged in containment and surveillance activities, etc.

According to the Institute of Perception Studies based in Delhi, a total of 253 journalists have lost their lives to COVID-19 as on Thursday i.e. from 1st April 2020 to 27th May 2021, of which 81 journalists have lost their lives in the last month i.e. 1st April 2021 to 30th April 2021.

According to the Institute of Perception Studies, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Manipur, Bihar, Jharkhand, Goa, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh have pledged to undertake vaccination for journalists on priority, whereas states such as Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Odisha, Telangana, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh have decided to undertake vaccination and also provide financial or medical assistance to journalists.