indiaculture.nic.in Artists Pension Scheme & Welfare Fund : Ministry of Culture

Organization : Ministry of Culture
Scheme Name : Artists Pension Scheme and Welfare Fund
Country: India

Details : https://indiaculture.nic.in/
Home Page : http://indiaculture.nic.in/

Artists Pension Scheme & Welfare Fund :

The Scheme :
The scheme shall be known as ‘Artistes Pension Scheme and Welfare Fund’.
The Scheme will cover the following two types of requests:
** Existing beneficiaries under the 1961 Scheme; and
** Fresh cases of writers, artists, etc. who are eligible for a grant under the Scheme.

Eligibility :
** To be eligible for assistance under the Scheme, a person’s contribution to art and letters, etc must be of significance. Traditional scholars who have made significant contribution in their fields would also be eligible notwithstanding the absence of any published works.
** Personal income of the applicant (including income of the spouse) must not exceed Rs. 4000/- per month.

** The applicant should not be less than 60 years of age (This does not apply in the case of dependents). The artist who are below the age of 40 years and want to claim the Artist Pension in future should immediately register themselves under the Atal Pension Scheme. With effect from 2035, i.e. 20 years from this date when the Atal Pension Scheme will start giving benefits no new applicants will be entertained by Ministry of Culture because the applicants will be covered under Atal Pension Yojna.

** For in-between period the artists who are awardees (State Awardees or National Awardees) and who can substantially prove their source of earning from the art activity during their active age will be eligible to apply. Such applicants should be recommended by the State Government and physically inspected by one of the organizations of Ministry of Culture before bringing it to the Expert Committee.

Applications should be submitted in prescribed Form and sent to the Director, South Central Zonal Cultural Centre, 56/1, Civil Lines, opposite MLA’s Hostel, Nagpur-440001, Maharashtra through respective State Government/UT Administrations with their recommendations. Ministry of Culture may make such changes in the Application form as may be felt necessary from time to time.

Nature of Assistance :
Assistance from the Government may be in the form of monthly allowance. Such allowance given to the Artistes recommended under the Centre-State Quota will be shared by the Centre and State Government /UT Administration concerned, with the latter paying a monthly allowance of at least Rs.500/- per month per beneficiary. The monthly allowance contributed by the Central Government in such cases shall not exceed Rs. 3500/- per month per beneficiary.

Selection of Applicants :
** The names of the deserving candidates for award of Artistes Pension will be decided on the basis of financial position and eminence etc. of the applicants by the Central Government on the recommendations of the Expert Committee constituted by Ministry of Culture, subject to availability of fund. The cases of all recommended candidates will be placed before Minister in charge of Ministry of Culture for approval.

Renewal :
Subject to the above provisions the recurring monthly allowance sanctioned under the Scheme shall be for such period as may be determined by the Central Government and/ or may be continued on year to year basis on production of Life and Income certificates to Service Provider.

Discontinuance of Allowance :
** If the financial means of a recipient improve beyond Rs. 4000/- per month, allowance under the Scheme will be discontinued.
** Government may also at its discretion terminate the allowance after giving three months’ notice to the recipient.
** Any recipient may also resign his/ her right to receive allowance by giving written notice to the Government. In such cases, the allowance will be discontinued with effect from the date of his/ her letter of resignation.

On the Death :
On the death of a recipient, the said financial assistance may be continued at the discretion of the Central Government after examining the financial condition of the dependents.

Note :
The mode of payment, in case of death of the recipient, of financial assistance will be as under:
For spouse : Till life
For dependents : Till marriage or employment or upto the age of 21 years, whichever is earlier.

National Artistes Welfare Fund :

Introduction :
Ministry of Culture has been administering Scheme of Financial Assistance to Persons Distinguished in Letters, Arts and Such other Walks of life who may be in indigent circumstances and their dependents since 1961. The scope of the Scheme is being extended to provide for a “NATIONAL ARTISTES WELFARE FUND” that will permit grant of special financial assistance to the Artistes and dependents of the Artists, covered under this Scheme, in case of hospitalization and other exigencies requiring urgent action.

Objective :
The objective of this fund shall be to provide financial help to the artists who are getting financial assistance under this Scheme and after death of the Artist, his/her dependents, as under
** When an artist expires and his next of kin deserves to be assisted.
** When an artist who is covered under the Scheme needs one-time financial assistance for medical treatment/illness and is not in a position to earn his livelihood and support his/her children and / or unable to meet expenses of his treatment.
** When an artist who needs financial assistance for sudden physical disability.

Eligibility for grant of assistance from the Fund :
** The Artists who are getting financial assistance under this Scheme and after death of the Artist, dependent on the artist.

On the death of the artist, the mode of financial assistance to dependent family members will be as under :
** Spouse – After the death of the artist, financial assistance, in case of necessity, will first be granted to the spouse of the Artist.
** For dependents – Till marriage or employment or upto the age of 21 years, whichever is earlier.

Limits of Financial Assistance :
The financial assistance granted shall be of non-recurring nature and the amount of assistance on any occasion shall be restricted to the following limits
** In cases of death of the Artist as mentioned at 10.2(a) above – Rs. 2 lakhs
** For medical treatment as mentioned at 10.2(b) above – Rs. 1 lakh
** When an artist who needs financial assistance for sudden physical disability as mentioned at 10.2(c) above. – Rs. 50,000/-