The Ministry of Culture administers a Scheme by the name of “Scheme for Financial Assistance for Veteran Artists” (earlier known as Scheme for Pension and Medical Aid to Artists) under which financial assistance is provided to senior artists, aged 60 years & above, having annual income not more than 72,000/-, who have contributed significantly in their specialized fields of performing arts and culture, but are facing financial difficulties due to old age. Under the scheme, financial assistance upto Rs. 6000/- per month is given to the selected artists. The applicant artist should either 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 should be verified and recommended by the concerned Zonal Cultural Centre (ZCC), Ministry of Culture.
The number of artists benefitted under the scheme during the last four years, State- wise is enclosed at Annexure.
| (Rs. In Lakhs) | |||||||||
| Sl. No. | States | FY-2019-20 | FY – 2020-21 | FY – 2021-22 | FY – 2022-23 | ||||
| No of artist supported | Quantum of financial assistance released | No of artist supported | Quantum of financial assistance released | No of artist supported | Quantum of financial assistance released | No of artist supported | Quantum of financial assistance released | ||
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 54 | 22.16 | 29 | 5.1 | 89 | 72.29 | 148 | 84.66 |
| 2 | Assam | 5 | 1.92 | 2 | 0.96 | 1 | 0.48 | 1 | 1.57 |
| 3 | Bihar | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 4 | NCT of Delhi | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 5 | Goa | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 6 | Gujarat | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 7 | Haryana | 1 | 0.04 | – | – | 1 | 0.93 | 2 | 0.56 |
| 8 | Himachal Pradesh | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 9 | UT of Jammu & Kashmir | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 10 | Jharkhand | 8 | 1.11 | 8 | 2.28 | 5 | 3.00 | 7 | 3.59 |
| 11 | Karnataka | 102 | 30.29 | 144 | 29.97 | 146 | 59.55 | 130 | 64.32 |
| 12 | Kerala | 83 | 13.34 | 24 | 8.18 | 57 | 24.49 | 51 | 25.3 |
| 13 | Madhya Pradesh | 16 | 5.41 | 6 | 2.44 | 12 | 5.04 | 6 | 3.86 |
| 14 | Maharashtra | 324 | 85.86 | 206 | 106.61 | 448 | 190.49 | 740 | 273.49 |
| 15 | Manipur | 13 | 3.08 | 9 | 3.36 | 16 | 7.84 | 5 | 0.6 |
| 16 | Meghalaya | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | Mizoram | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 18 | Nagaland | 1 | 0.04 | 1 | 0.48 | 2 | 0.92 | 1 | 0.12 |
| 19 | Odisha | 238 | 84.04 | 355 | 119.46 | 828 | 276.95 | 966 | 306.77 |
| 20 | Puducherry (UT) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 21 | Punjab | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 22 | Rajasthan | 5 | 0.87 | 2 | 0.07 | 2 | 1.23 | 2 | 0.71 |
| 23 | Tamil Nadu | 36 | 9.92 | 6 | 0.87 | 22 | 15.49 | 21 | 14.6 |
| 24 | Telangana | 163 | 86.18 | 86 | 53.2 | 342 | 217.29 | 489 | 268.16 |
| 25 | Tripura | 2 | 0.06 | 1 | 0.24 | 2 | 0.92 | 1 | 0.12 |
| 26 | Uttar Pradesh | 8 | 3.2 | 9 | 5.12 | 46 | 13.08 | 58 | 15.46 |
| 27 | Uttarakhand | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 28 | West Bengal | 25 | 8.26 | 37 | 5.09 | 32 | 12.31 | 27 | 11.71 |
| Total | 1084 | 355.82 | 925 | 343.46 | 2051 | 902.30 | 2655 | 1075.6 | |
| LIC | 2104 | 1461.78 | 1075 | 527.85 | 978 | 639.87 | 996 | 783.58 | |
| G. Total | 3188 | 1817.6 | 2000 | 871.31 | 3029 | 1542.17 | 3651 | 1859.18 | |
This information was given by Union Minister for Culture, Tourism And Development of North Eastern Region G.Kishan Reddy in Rajya Sabha today.