LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 21
ANSWERED ON 21.07.2025
‘Financial Assistance to the Veteran Artists in Andhra Pradesh’
21. Shri Dr. C M Ramesh :
Will the MINISTER OF CULTURE be pleased to state:
Whether it is true that total number of 962 proposals received from Andhra Pradesh for providing pension/financial assistance for artists who have now become old during the last five years i.e., from 2019-20 to 2023-24;
if so, the details of applications received year and district-wise;
whether it is true that majority of applications have been rejected by the Government;
if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor;
whether the Government is contemplating to be a bit lenient towards these artists since they had contributed in keeping our culture, art and traditions alive; and
the details of applications received in 2024-25 and in the first six months of current financial year?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF CULTURE AND TOURISM
(SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)
(a), (b), (c) & (d) The total number of proposals received, approved and rejected from the state of Andhra Pradesh under the Scheme for Financial Assistance for Veteran Artists for consideration for grant of financial assistance during the last five years, i.e. from 2019-20 to 2023-24 are given below. The district-wise data of proposals received under the scheme is not maintained in this Ministry.
Sl. No.
Year
Proposals received
Proposals approved
Proposals rejected
1.
2019-20
177
35
142
2.
2020-21
52
34
18
3.
2021-22
233
91
142
4.
2022-23
218
33
185
5.
2023-24
291
38
253
The proposals found incomplete due to non-submission of recommendations of the Art & Culture Department of State Government/UT administration or the concerned Zonal Cultural Centre (ZCC) under this Ministry, lack of requisite documents and artistic credentials are rejected.
(e) Recognizing the significant contribution by the artists in promotion of our art and culture, and to mitigate the hardships faced by the selected artists, the following actions have been taken by the Ministry in the recent years:
(i) The quantum of financial assistance under the scheme has been enhanced from Rs. 4000/- per month to Rs. 6000/- per month w.e.f. June, 2022;
(ii) The requirement of submitting income certificate every year has now been done away and instead it is now required to be submitted once in five years;
(iii) Earlier, the applicant artist applying under the scheme should have been mandatorily be a recipient of artists pension of atleast Rs. 500/- per month from the concerned State Government/UT Administration. This condition has been relaxed and now also provides for verification and recommendation of the artistic credentials by the concerned Zonal Cultural Centre (ZCC), Ministry of Culture in case the applicant is not a recipient of artists pension from the State Govt./UT Administration;
(iv) To ensure smooth and timely disbursal of financial assistance to the selected artists, an MoU has been signed with Canara Bank on 28.06.2023.
The above efforts have led to an increase in the annual disbursement from Rs. 8.71 Cr. for 2000 artists in the financial year 2020-21 to Rs. 26.09 Cr. for 4636 artists in 2024-25.
(f) A total of 3182 applications have been received during the year 2024-25 and in the current financial year, 2025-26 (till 15-07-2025).
addComments
Post a Comment