Kartik Kakar Last June, during the first wave of Covid in India, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope announced that journalists in the state who die of Covid will be But a year later, Maharashtraâs journalists are still struggling to get what was promised to them. In the last eight months, around 126 journalists have died of Covid in the state, according to the Marathi Patrakar Parishad, with 52 dying in April alone while reporting on the pandemic. The Marathi Patrakar Parishad is one of the oldest journalist unions in the state. Several journalists and their family members told Newslaundry theyâre struggling to get support from the Uddhav Thackeray government.