Global media corona casualties reach 800, India at 55

NJ THAKURIA-
    
 
PEC lauds New Delhi’s gesture to victim families

Geneva/ Guwahati, 17 February 2021: Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), a
Switzerland based media watchdog, has lauded the Indian Union
government in New Delhi for exercising a massive corona-vaccination
program and also extending financial aids to the bereaved families of
media corona warriors. The acclaimed forum urges other nations to
follow the example and go for an early vaccination for journalists.
Mentionable is that Prime Minister  Narendra Modi led government has
decided to offer rupees five lakh (USD 6500) each for kin of 39
journalists who succumbed to Covid-19 complications since March 2020,
as proposed by the journalist welfare committee under the Press
Information Bureau (PIB), an official media organ of the government.

“Appreciating New Delhi, we continue to reiterate that the novel
corona virus infections have taken away the precious lives of over 800
journalists in 66 countries and still counting that reminds the
necessity of precautions and also supports to the victims. India
remains in fourth position of the list of media corona victims (with
55 casualties), preceded by Peru (108), Brazil (95) and Mexico (86),”
informs Blaise Lempen,  secretary-general of PEC (www.pressemblem.ch).
India is followed by Italy (45 dead), Bangladesh (44), Ecuador (42),
USA (41), UK (25), Pakistan (23), Turkey (21), Colombia (21), Panama
(16), Ukraine (14), Bolivia (14), Russia (13), Spain (11) etc in the
PEC prepared list of journo-victims due to the pandemic. Offering
heartfelt condolences to families and colleagues of the deceased, the
forum asks media persons to take vaccinations at the earliest.

PEC’s India representative Nava Thakuria pointed out that at least 16
corona journo-victim families in the country are still deprived of the
concerned government benefits. They should immediately apply online
(http://pibaccreditation.nic.in/jws/default.aspx) for the same and may
kindly  contact the concerned PIB officials (Ph. 01123488022) in need,
he concluded.