- UP Working Journalists Union seeks Ayushman Bharat coverage for all retired journalists above 60 and their families
- Union wants journalists with a qualifying period of accreditation to retain healthcare cover after retirement
- EPFO pensioners among working journalists also sought to be brought under the health scheme
- Union places wider welfare charter before UP Government, including pension and journalist protection law
NE NEWS SERVICE
LUCKNOW, OCT 5
For journalists who spend their working lives reporting on society’s problems, healthcare security after retirement is emerging as a problem of their own. The Uttar Pradesh Working Journalists Union has urged the State Government to extend Ayushman scheme coverage to all retired working journalists aged above 60 and their families, arguing that healthcare protection should not end with a journalist’s retirement or loss of accreditation.
The Union has sought inclusion of all categories of retired working journalists above 60 years of age in the Ayushman scheme. At present, according to the Union, the benefit is available only to accredited journalists.
A Union delegation submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister to Sanjay Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, in Lucknow on Monday, seeking an expansion of the existing coverage.
Accreditation should not decide post-retirement healthcare
The Union has proposed that retired journalists who had accreditation for a specified qualifying period should continue to receive the benefit even after retirement.
It has also demanded that other working journalists who possess an EPFO Pension Payment Order (PPO) should be brought within the scheme. For other categories of working journalists, the Union has called for a separate set of rules to determine eligibility.
The demand places the spotlight on a larger question facing the media profession: whether welfare benefits linked to journalism should be determined solely by current accreditation status or should also recognise a journalist’s long-term contribution to the profession and formal retirement record.
Pension, housing and journalist protection also on welfare charter
The delegation also submitted proposals adopted at the Union’s State Delegates’ Conference in Mahoba.
These included demands for pension for journalists, simplification of PGI facilities, affordable housing and plot allotment, a journalist protection law and constitution of a Press Accreditation Committee.
The demands underline the Union’s wider push for a structured social-security framework covering journalists not merely during their working years but also after retirement.
‘UP could become first State to take this step’
Union State President Haseeb Siddiqui thanked the Chief Minister for extending the Ayushman scheme to accredited journalists and argued that the policy should now be widened to cover retired working journalists.
Siddiqui pointed out that the Government of India is providing Ayushman scheme benefits to all citizens above 70 years of age.
“In such a situation, if retired journalists above 60 years of age are included in the scheme, Uttar Pradesh would become the first State in the country to take such a step,” he said.
The proposal therefore seeks to position journalist healthcare not simply as a professional benefit but as a component of post-retirement social security.
Government assures serious consideration
Sanjay Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, assured the delegation that the demands would be considered seriously.
The delegation comprised Devraj Singh, State General Secretary of the Union; Shivsharan Singh, President, Lucknow Division; Avinash Shukla; Shiv Vijay Singh; T.N. Mishra; D.P. Shukla; and Anil Saini.
The latest demand has the potential to widen the debate over journalist welfare in Uttar Pradesh — from accreditation-linked benefits to a more comprehensive framework encompassing healthcare, pension, housing, safety and dignity after retirement.