PENSION TO SENIOR ARTISTS
PENSION TO SENIOR ARTISTS
Ministry of Culture administers a scheme by the name of ‘Scheme for Financial Assistance for Veteran Artists’, under which financial assistance is provided to the selected veteran artists. Assistance provided under the scheme is not any kind of pension to these artists. The number of senior artist beneficiaries received financial assistance and amount disbursed under the scheme during last three years are given as below:
Financial Year
Numbers of veteran artists received financial assistance
Amount Disbursed (in Cr.)
2022-23
3651
18.59
2023-24
3811
28.96
2024-25
4636
26.09
Following are the eligibility criteria for providing financial assistance under the scheme:
The quantum of financial assistance up to Rs. 6000/- per month till life is being provided to the selected veteran artists under the scheme.
Release of financial assistance to the selected artists under the said scheme depends on submission of certain mandatory documents such as, Digital Life Certificate (DLC) once in a year, annual income certificate once every five years, documents showing receipt of artist pension, if any, from the concerned State Government/UT Administration. Sometimes non-submission of all these mandatory documents by the selected veteran artists results in delay in disbursal of their financial assistance. Once the requisite mandatory documents are received from the selected artists, which is a continuous process throughout the year, all efforts are made to disburse the financial assistance expeditiously.
To mitigate the hardships faced by the beneficiaries selected under the scheme, the following steps have been taken by this Ministry in recent years:
This information was given by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today
- The applicant artist should have contributed significantly in their specialized fields of arts, letters etc. in their active age or are still contributing;
- The applicant artist should be of age 60 years and above;
- Annual income of the applicant must not exceed Rs. 72,000/-;
- The applicant artist should be a recipient of artists pension of at least Rs. 500/- per month from the concerned State Government/UT Administration, or the artistic credential of the applicant is verified and recommended by the concerned Zonal Cultural Centre (ZCC), Ministry of Culture.
- The applicant artist should not be getting financial assistance under any other scheme of the Ministry of Culture.