Earlier today, journalists took to Twitter to express their gratitude to I&B minister Smriti Irani. This seems to be in reference to Information & Broadcasting Ministry’s proposed allocation of Rs 1 crore to the Journalists Welfare Scheme in the upcoming Budget year.
The scheme, which was earmarked at Rs 20 lakh last year, is used to provide one-time ex-gratia relief to journalists or their families in event of extreme hardship.
While the news is great (a five-fold increase from last year!), we didn’t quite expect journalists to be using the same language to express their happiness at this development. However, “Thank you @smritiirani for raising the amount of journalist welfare fund from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 1 crore” seems to have struck a note.
And, there were others, who chipped in but in not-so identical words.