Press Information Bureau (PIB) and Journalist Welfare in India

A century before India became a republic, the government already had a press office. It has been the bridge between officialdom and journalists ever since. This article covers the PIB and the welfare support for journalists.

1Chapter 1: What the PIB Is

Must Know

The government’s nodal press agency

• The Press Information Bureau (PIB) is India’s nodal government agency for communicating with the press and public.
• It functions under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

What it does day to day

• When a Minister makes an announcement, PIB usually writes the official press release.
• It sends it to every accredited journalist at once, in Hindi, English and regional languages.
• PIB is the government’s one central mouthpiece.
• So a journalist does not have to track dozens of ministries separately.

A colonial origin

• PIB traces back to June 1919, as a small publicity cell under the Home Ministry, during British rule.
• Its first head was Professor L.F. Rushbrook Williams.
• It was renamed the “Central Bureau of Information” in 1920.
• It finally became the “Press Information Bureau” in 1946.
• J. Natarajan became the first Indian Principal Information Officer, in 1941.
• After 1947, PIB became a department of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Who gets accredited

• PIB issues journalist accreditation for the Delhi-NCR region.
• A full-time journalist with at least five years’ experience can apply.
• The application is subject to a Ministry of Home Affairs security check.

2Chapter 2: Accreditation and Welfare

Good to Know

The committee behind accreditation

• A 25-member Central Media Accreditation Committee, under PIB, implements the accreditation guidelines.

What accreditation gets you

• Railway-fare concessions.
• Access to certain government buildings and events in Delhi-NCR.
• PIB-accredited journalists and their families are covered under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).
• This includes treatment at government or CGHS-empanelled private hospitals, at CGHS rates.

The Journalist Welfare Scheme

• The Journalist Welfare Scheme (JWS) gives a one-time cash payment, on an urgent basis.
• It is for journalists or media staff facing extreme hardship.
• This covers death, permanent disability, serious illness, or hospitalisation after an accident.

Push, not pull

• PIB actively pushes information out to the press.
• This is the opposite of the citizen-pull model in the Right to Information Act, 2005, where citizens request specific records.

3Chapter 3: Reading the Bigger Picture

Great to Know

Welfare without accreditation

• JWS deliberately covers both accredited and non-accredited journalists.
• Welfare support is not limited to those holding a formal PIB or state accreditation card.

PIB is not journalism

• PIB’s core function is government-to-press communication.
• That is distinct from journalism as a profession.
• The press-history and press-freedom side is covered in Journalism in India.

From colonial cell to republic agency

• PIB’s history spans a small colonial publicity cell in 1919 to the central information agency of a fully independent republic.
• Journalist welfare and PIB accreditation form a government support structure.
• It sits alongside, but separately from, broader debates about press freedom and independence.

Related bodies

• Central Information Commission: it decides RTI appeals rather than issuing press releases.
• IT Rules 2021 and Deepfake/AI Content Regulation: the same Ministry’s framework for platforms.
• The Election Commission and Electoral Reforms: another body that manages accredited-press access, during elections.

4Chapter 4: Current Affairs

Current Affairs

₹19.41 crore in welfare support

• On 5 August 2026, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr. L. Murugan shared details in a written Lok Sabha reply.
• Under the Journalist Welfare Scheme, the Government provided ₹19.41 crore to 456 journalists, media personnel or their families, between 2014-15 and 2025-26. (Source: The Indian Awaaz.)
• As of the reply date, 1,786 journalists are PIB-accredited.

Quick Q&A

• PIB origin? June 1919.
• Named PIB in? 1946.
• Accreditation committee size? 25 members.
• JWS aid type? One-time cash.
• Accredited journalists? 1,786.