Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan said that it is the responsibility of the state to take appropriate action against online harassment of women journalists.
The Center on February 10 said that an amount of 6.15 crore has been sanctioned as financial assistance to the families of 123 journalists who died due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan, in reply to supplementary questions in the Rajya Sabha, also said that it is the responsibility of the state governments to take appropriate action against online harassment of women journalists.
On the number of journalists who died during the pandemic, he said, “We are very concerned about the welfare of the journalists. During the pandemic, we ran a special campaign for journalists. We want to support the families of those who lost their lives. “We got offers from 123 journalists. All 123 proposals have been accepted and we have released an amount of ₹6.15 crore to the families concerned.
In a written reply, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said that the government has launched a special drive to provide financial assistance to the families of journalists who died of COVID-19.
“Based on the applications received by the Press Information Bureau and those who fulfill the criteria laid down under the Journalists Welfare Scheme (JWS), an amount of ₹ 6.15 crore was sanctioned during the financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22 for financial assistance Is. ₹ 5,00,000 per family to the families of 123 journalists who died due to COVID-19,” he said.
Since 2017, Mr Thakur said, financial assistance has been provided under JWS in 247 cases.
During 2017-18, ₹39.38 lakh were sanctioned under this scheme, while ₹99.99 lakh in 2018-19, ₹115.25 lakh in 2019-20, ₹260 lakh in 2020-21 and in 2021-22 (up to January 2022) ) ₹606.51 lakh, was sanctioned, he said.
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