In a suo-moto move, the Centre on Thursday approved a financial assistance of ₹5 lakh to families of 26 journalists who succumbed to coronavirus disease (Covid-19). With this, the number of families of such journalists who were given assistance in this financial relief rose to 67.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Press Information Bureau (PIB) compiled and collated the details of journalists who lost their lives due to the pandemic in this financial year and started a special drive to provide assistance to their families under the Journalist Welfare Scheme.
So far, families of 41 journalists killed by Covid-19 were given financial assistance by the government.
The Journalist Welfare Scheme (JWS) Committee headed by Amit Khare, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, expressed their deep condolences to the families of the journalists killed by Covid-19.
The committee also decided to hold JWS meetings on weekly basis so that applications for financial assistance 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.