1.Preamble

The Scheme shall be known as ‘Scheme for Financial Assistance for Veteran Artists’. The Scheme is meant for improving the financial and socio-economic status of the old artistes and scholars who have contributed significantly in their specialized fields of arts, letters etc. in their active age or are still contributing in the field of arts, letters etc. but due to old age they have to lead a miserable life or are in penury condition.

• (i).Existing beneficiaries getting monthly artistes pension under the 1961 Scheme of ‘Financial Assistance to Persons Distinguished in Letters, Arts and such other walks of life who may be in indigent circumstances’ as amended from time to time; and
• (ii).Fresh cases of artistes, writers, etc. who are eligible for a grant/monthly financial assistance under the extant guidelines of the Scheme.

2.Eligibility Criteria for monthly Financial Assistance :-

• To be eligible for financial 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. 6,000/- (Rupees six thousand only) per month or annual income of Rs.72,000/- (Rupees seventy two thousand only) [This excludes artiste pension assistance amount already getting by a beneficiary from the Government (i.e. concerned State Govt./UT Administration and/or Ministry of Culture)].
• The applicant should not be less than 60 (sixty) years of age (This does not apply in the case of spouse).
• The applicant artiste should be a recipient of artists pension of at least Rs. 500/- per month from the concerned State Government/UT Administration, or the artistic credentials of the applicant is verified and recommended by the concerned ZCC, Ministry of Culture.
• The applicant artistes should not be getting financial assistance under any other Scheme of the Ministry viz. Repertory Grant etc.

3.Procedure for Submission of Application :-

The applicant artists who are getting pension of atleast Rs.500/- per month from the concerned State Govt./UT Administration may forward their application through respective State Govt./UT Administration with their recommendations. All other artist applicants (i.e., artists not getting artist pension from States/UTs though there is a provision of artist pension scheme in their States/UTs and artists belonging to States/UTs where there is no such scheme for providing financial support to artists) will submit their applications to the respective Zonal Cultural Centers, Ministry of Culture which will examine it and if found satisfactory recommend the applications of Artists of their Member States/UTs, to Director, South Central Zonal Cultural Centre (SCZCC), Nagpur. In case of applications belongs to the State/UTs falling under the purview of SCZCC, Nagpur, scrutiny of the applications will be done by them and upon being satisfied with the claim that the applicant is a bonafide artist, SCZCC, Nagpur will place such applications before the Expert Committee alongwith their recommendations.

Applications received through ZCCs will be checked with Art and Culture Department of concerned States/UTs to ensure veracity of claim made by the applicants in their applications before releasing financial assistance to them upon their selection.

Details of Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) along with the list of its Member States and contact details/ address of the seven ZCCs are enclosed at Annexure-I & Annexure-II respectively.

4. Documents required to be enclosed with the application form :-

[Note: All documents must be in English or Hindi. Documents other than in English or Hindi should be accompanied with typed English translation].

• A recent clear & colored passport size photograph of the applicant (not older than six months) to be affixed on the specified place in the application form;
• Self-attested copy of any one of the following documents for address proof:-
(a) Aadhaar Card issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI);
(b)Elector’s photo identity card;
(c) Passport;
(d) Driving License;
(e) Electricity Bill^;
(f) Landline telephone or broadband connection bill^;
(g) Water Bill^;
(h) Consumer gas connection card or book or piped gas bill^;
(i) Bank account statement^
(j) Domicile certificate issued by the Government;
(k) Passport of the spouse;
(l) Post office pass book having address of the applicant;
(m)Property registration document



[^ Should not be more than three months old on the date of application]

• Self-attested copy of any one document from the following listed documents for proof of Date of Birth:-
(a) Aadhaar Card issued by UIDAI;
(b)PAN Card
(c) Elector’s photo identity card;
(d) Passport;
(e) Driving License;
(f) Birth Certificate issued by the Municipal Authority or any office authorized to issue Birth and Death Certificate by the Registrar of Birth and Deaths;
(g) Marriage certificate issued by Registrar of Marriages;
(h) Matriculation/10thclass certificate or mark sheet of recognized Board;
(i) Domicile certificate issued by the Government.



[Note: Certificate enclosed by an applicant in support of Date of Birth issued by a Doctor/any other authority certifying age on the basis of physical appearance of the applicant will not be accepted and application of such applicant will be rejected summarily].

• Self-attested copy of Aadhaar Card issued by UIDAI.
• Original copy of Income Certificate in the prescribed format [Annexure-I) of the Application Form] issued by the Competent Authority of the State/UTs concerned.

[Note: The Competent Authority for issue of Income Certificate in various States/Union Territories is given in Annexure-II of the Application Form].

• Copies of relevant documents which support the applicant’s contributions made in the field of Art, Culture etc. or awards, recognition, or distinction received by the applicant from Central/State Government/Union Territory or any prominent Literary or Arts Society.
• Duly filled-in and signed prescribed Bank Authorization letter (Annexure-III of the Application Form) which is verified & signed by the Manager of the concerned Bank (in original).
• Recommendation letter obtained from the Culture Department of concerned State Government/UT Administrations in respect of artists getting at least monthly artist pension of Rs. 500/- in the prescribed format [Part-II of the Application Form]. The recommendation letters obtained from concerned Zonal Cultural Centers, Ministry of Culture to be attached with the applications in respect of all other Artists in the prescribed format [Part-II of the Application Form] is required.

5. Timelines for submission of applications :-

Applicants getting artists pension from States/UTs will send their applications through Art & Culture Department of their respective States/UTs to the Director, South Central Zone Cultural Center (SCZCC), Nagpur.

For all other artists (i.e., artists not getting artist pension from States/UTs though there is a provision of artist pension scheme in their States/UTs and artists belonging to the States/UTs where there is no such scheme for providing financial support to artists), the following timeline will be followed:

• All ZCCs will organize camps at different locations for identifying and creating awareness about the scheme guidelines amongst senior artists of their members’ state from May-July of the year.
• All ZCCs will receive applications of artists of their member States/UTs from August-November of the year.
• Preliminary examination including eligibility of the applicants will be done by the concerned ZCC during October-November of the year.
• Only eligible applications found complete in all respects would be forwarded to South Central Zone Cultural Centre (SCZCC), Nagpur by the respective ZCC by December along with their recommendations.
• SCZCC, Nagpur will compile all the applications received from ZCCs or the concerned Art & Culture Department of State/UTs in the month of January & organize the meeting of Expert Committee in Februaryof the following year.

Note 1. All entries in the application form should be legible and filled clearly. Incomplete applications or applications without the recommendations of respective State Government/UT Administrations/ Zonal Cultural Centers and necessary enclosures as mentioned in the application form will not be entertained, in any respect and rejected summarily. Each page of the application and enclosures should be serially numbered and signed by the applicant. Further the page number of the relevant document should clearly be indicated in the check list.

Note 2.Ministry of Culture may make such changes in the Application Form as may be felt necessary from time to time.

Note 3.All disputes between the Ministry/Central Government/Department entrusted with the task of disbursement of financial assistance and the beneficiaries under the Scheme shall be subject to Jurisdiction of Courts at Delhi only.

6. Nature of Financial Assistance :-

Financial assistance from the Ministry of Culture will be in the form of monthly allowance. Such allowance given to the Artists 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.5500/- per month per beneficiary.

In any circumstances the total contribution of financial assistance from the Central Government and State Government/UT Administration altogether will not exceed Rs. 6000/- per month per beneficiary in which contribution of State Government/UT Administration should be at least Rs.500/- per month per beneficiary. Out of Rs.6000/-, the monthly contribution of allowance of Central Government will be less to the extent the monthly contribution of allowance being provided to the applicant by State Government/UT Administration. [i.e. If State Government is already providing Rs. 1000/- per month pension to an artiste recommended to get financial assistance from the Central Government under this Scheme, in that case the contribution of Central Government would be only Rs. 5000/- per month].

In respect of the artists not getting artists pension from their States/UTs, Rs. 6,000/-(Six thousand only) per month will be paid as Financial Assistance by the Central Government.

7. Selection of Applicants for award of Financial Assistance :-

The applications of eligible artists found to be complete in all respects will be placed before Expert Committee constituted by Ministry of Culture under the Scheme. The Expert Committee will comprise heads of various cultural organisations under Ministry of Culture and also assisted by a number of eminent artistes in different fields of art and culture who have proven their expertise in their respective fields, as decided by Ministry of Culture from time to time.

The Expert Committee will consider the applications in terms of extant guidelines of the Scheme and recommend the names of deserving candidates for award of financial assistance solely on merit considering financial position and eminence etc. of the applicant artist. The recommendations of the Expert Committee are to be examined by the Administrative Division in Ministry with reference to the Scheme guidelines, rules & regulation and also as per the availability of fund under the Scheme, to facilitate an appropriate decision by the Competent Authority. The cases of all the recommended candidates will be submitted finally for getting approval of Competent Authority who will be at least one level above to the Chairperson of the Expert Committee. Before releasing of financial assistance to the approved artists, concurrence of Internal Finance Division in Ministry shall be obtained.

8. Disbursement of Financial Assistance :-

Monthly Financial Assistance to the approved existing beneficiaries and new artists to be included in the beneficiaries list subsequent to the recommendation of Expert Committee and thereafter approval of the Competent Authority, will be disbursed by the Canara Bank (the disbursing agency nominated by the Ministry of Culture for disbursement of Financial Assistance) directly into their bank account upon receipt of the following mandatory documents from the beneficiaries at email ids i.e. document4moc@gmail.com or artistpension.moc@gmail.com of the Ministry or by post at the following address:-

• Digital Life Certificate (DLC) of the beneficiary processed through Jeevan Pramaan Portal (https://jeevanpramaan.gov.in) by using necessary information like Aadhaar number, Mobile number and Pension Payment Order (PPO) displayed by the Ministry on its website [till the time the Aadhaar Card is made mandatory by the Government for individual residing in the State of Assam, Meghalaya and Jammu & Kashmir, they may submit coloured scanned copy of their original Life Certificate] every year by the month of November, and
• Coloured scanned copy of original Income Certificate in the prescribed format [Annexure-I of application form] issued by the concerned Competent Authority of the States/UTs [Annexure-II of application form] once in every five (05) years.



The beneficiaries will have to furnish any other requisite information/document(s) as sought by the Ministry from time to time. In case the requisite documents sought by the Ministry are not received from the beneficiary, the financial assistance will not be released to him/her. Further, if any discrepancy is found in the documents furnished by the beneficiary, the financial assistance may not be released or stopped forthwith till such time the discrepancy is rectified.

9. Renewal of financial assistance to existing beneficiaries :-

Subject to the above provisions the recurring monthly allowance sanctioned under the Scheme to the existing beneficiaries shall be for such period as may be determined by the Central Government and/or may be continued on year-to-year basis on receipt of Digital Life Certificate (DLC) and Income Certificate from them as mentioned in para 8 above.

10. Discontinuance of allowance :-

If the financial means of a recipient improve beyond Rs.6,000/- (Rupees six thousand only) per month or annual income of Rs.72,000/- (Rupees seventy thousand only) [This excludes artiste pension assistance amount already getting by a beneficiary from the Government (i.e. concerned State Govt./UT Administration and/or Ministry of Culture)], financial assistance under the Scheme will be discontinued forthwith without any notice to the recipient. Government may also on its discretion terminate the assistance after giving three months notice to the recipient.

Any recipient may also relinquish his/her right to receive assistance by giving written notice to the Government. In such cases, the assistance will be discontinued with effect from the date of his/ her letter of relinquish the assistance.

If the documents furnished by the applicant are found false or forged, the financial assistance will be discontinued immediately.

11. Financial assistance to the spouse in case of death of beneficiary :-

In case of death of a beneficiary getting financial assistance from the Ministry, the same may be transferred, at the discretion of the Central Government, in the name of the spouse of the beneficiary till life, if such request/application is received in the Ministry from the spouse within the period of one year from the date of death/demise of the beneficiary along with the under-mentioned documents.

• Copy of death certificate of late beneficiary in original or self-attested;
• Documentary proof to support that the late beneficiary was getting artistes pension;
• Self-attested copy of Aadhaar Card of spouse issued by UIDAI;
• Self-attested copy of any document in support of address proof of the spouse as mentioned in para 4(ii) above;
• An undertaking that he/she is not getting financial assistance under other Schemes of the Ministry of Culture or other Ministry/Department of Central Government for the same purpose.
• Bank Authorization Letter in the prescribed format (Annexure-III of Application Form)
• Legal heir certificate in the prescribed proforma issued by the Competent Authority and an affidavit from SDM or 1st Class Magistrate of concerned district in proforma;
• Self-attested copy of Digital Life Certificate (DLC) of the spouse processed through Jeevan Pramaan Portal (https://jeevanpramaan.gov.in);
• Self-attested copy of latest Income Certificate of the spouse in the prescribed format [Annexure-I of the Application Form)] issued by the concerned Competent Authority of the States/UTs [Annexure-II of the Application Form];

After a period of one year, the claim for transfer of financial assistance in the name of spouse will stand forfeited and no request in this regard shall be entertained.

The financial assistance may be transferred in the name of spouse after getting physical inspection/verification of the applicant done through officer(s) of the Ministry of Culture or one of the organizations of Ministry of Culture and finding affirmative report, examination of the request of spouse in consultation with IFD of the Ministry and finally obtaining the approval of the Competent Authority.

The following time-lines are prescribed for prompt process of such requests, subsequent to receiving the same from spouse along with the requisite documents in the Ministry and found to be completed in all respects:-

• Physical inspection/verification by the concerned Zonal Cultural Centre/ Officer from Ministry: Three weeks;
• Concurrence of Integrated Finance Division (IFD) in Ministry after affirmative report established on physical verification: Two weeks

[if, IFD seeks some clarification/document, the prescribed period will be counted after the same are received in Administrative Division of the Ministry];

• Approval of the Competent Authority after concurrence of IFD: One week; and
• Financial Assistance starting to the spouse: From consequent month after approval of the Competent Authority.



In case of transfer of financial assistance to the spouse of the beneficiary, the amount of assistance will be Rs. 5999/- (Rupees five thousand nine hundred ninety nine) only.

12. Administration of the Scheme :-

The Scheme will be implemented by the Ministry with the support of all Zonal Cultural Centers and SCZCC, Nagpur will be the main coordinator. The Ministry reserves the right to modify the provisions of the Scheme at any time. In order to implement the Scheme in better perspective, the Scheme Guidelines will be circulated widely through State Governments/UT Administrations along with sharing the data of beneficiaries of Central Government with them.

These revised guidelines will come into effect from August, 2023.

13. Member States of Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) :-

14. CONTACT DETAILS OF THE ZONAL CULTURAL CENTRES (ZCCs) :-

1. Section Officer, 210, IInd, ‘D’Block, Puratatva Bhawan, G.P.O. Complex, I.N.A. New Delhi-110023.
2. Contact Nos. for Enquiries: (011)-24642165