Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme

What is the Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme?

Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme is a subsidised group insurance programme notified in 2014 by the Information & Public Relations Department (IPRD), Government of Bihar. The scheme's purpose is to give working media representatives in Bihar a financial safety net against two specific risks that the profession carries in unusual measure: accidental death or disability while on assignment, and the cost of hospital treatment.

Journalism in Bihar is largely a district and block-level trade. Reporters cover floods in Kosi, road accidents on the national highways, communal flashpoints and election crowds, often travelling long distances on two-wheelers with no employer-provided cover. A large share work as stringers or independent contributors for whom no organisation buys a group policy at all. Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme was created to close exactly that gap.

The scheme has two limbs:

• Personal accident insurance of up to Rs 5,00,000, which responds to accidental death and to permanent disability.
• Group mediclaim insurance of up to Rs 5,00,000, covering hospital and medical expenses of the insured media representative and their dependents.

The cost structure is the scheme's defining feature. The media representative contributes 20 percent of the premium and the Government of Bihar pays the remaining 80 percent. A journalist therefore buys a Rs 5 lakh accident and health package for a fifth of what it would cost in the market. Cover runs for one year and is renewable annually.

Who is eligible for the Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme?

You can join the scheme if:

• You are a media representative residing and working in Bihar. Both conditions apply together. A Bihar-domiciled journalist posted permanently outside the state does not meet the working-in-Bihar test.
• You are between 21 and 70 years of age on the date of enrolment or renewal. This is a wide band by insurance standards and deliberately keeps older working journalists inside the scheme.
• You hold accreditation with the Information & Public Relations Department. For an independent journalist, the requirement is stated specifically: a valid press accreditation card issued by the IPRD, Government of Bihar, together with a minimum of five years of experience in journalism.
• You pay your 20 percent share of the annual premium.

You cannot join, or are not eligible, if:

• You hold no IPRD accreditation card. Accreditation is the gateway, and no other press identity card substitutes for it.
• You are under 21 or over 70 years of age.
• You are an independent journalist with less than five years of experience in the profession.
• You do not reside and work in Bihar.
• You do not pay your premium share for the year, or you miss the annual renewal, in which case cover lapses rather than continuing on credit.

Dependents cannot enrol on their own. A spouse, child or dependent parent is covered only as a dependent under the mediclaim limb of a journalist who is himself or herself enrolled.

What does the Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme cover?

Personal accident cover; up to Rs 5,00,000. This limb pays on accidental death and on permanent disability caused by an accident. For a stringer killed in a road accident while returning from an assignment, this is the component that reaches the family.

Group mediclaim cover; up to Rs 5,00,000. This limb reimburses hospital and medical expenses for the media representative and dependents, within the terms of the group policy the department places with its insurer for that year. Room rent limits, waiting periods for pre-existing conditions, exclusions and the cashless hospital network are set by that policy document. Because the insurer and the policy terms are re-tendered periodically, always read the current year's policy schedule rather than relying on last year's booklet.

The two covers are independent of each other. A mediclaim admission during the year does not reduce the personal accident sum insured.

What documents are required for the Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme?

How to apply for the Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme

1. Obtain or renew your IPRD accreditation. Apply to the Information & Public Relations Department, Government of Bihar, through your district information office. Nothing else in the process can begin until the accreditation card is current.
2. Watch for the department's annual enrolment circular. IPRD issues a circular each policy year naming the insurer, the sum insured, the premium and the last date for enrolment, and copies go to district information offices and press accreditation committees.
3. Collect and fill the enrolment or proposal form from your District Information & Public Relations Office. Enter your accreditation number, date of birth and the names, ages and relationship of every dependent you want covered under the mediclaim limb.
4. Attach self-attested copies of your accreditation card, age proof, residence proof and, if you are an independent journalist, proof of five years of journalism experience.
5. Pay your 20 percent share of the premium in the manner stated in the circular and attach the receipt. The government's 80 percent share is released directly to the insurer by the department.
6. Submit the completed form at the District Information & Public Relations Office and take an acknowledgement.
7. Collect your policy certificate or insurance card once the department places the group policy. This document carries the policy number you will need at a hospital or when filing an accident claim.
8. Renew every year. Cover is annual, so diary the renewal date alongside your accreditation renewal.

How to make a claim under the scheme

1. Inform the insurer's helpline or the Third Party Administrator named on your policy certificate as soon as a hospitalisation or accident occurs. Cashless treatment requires intimation before admission wherever the admission is planned.
2. Inform your District Information & Public Relations Office, which maintains the department's record of insured journalists and helps establish that you were an enrolled member on the date of the event.
3. Assemble the claim papers, for a mediclaim, the discharge summary, itemised hospital bills, prescriptions and diagnostic reports; for an accident claim, the FIR or police report, the post-mortem report or disability certificate, and the death certificate where applicable.
4. File the claim with the insurer within the time limit stated in the policy, keeping a copy of everything you submit.

Common reasons cover fails when it is needed

• Accreditation lapsed. A journalist whose accreditation card expired during the policy year may find the claim contested. Renew accreditation on time.
• Annual renewal missed. The policy does not roll over automatically; a missed premium share means no cover for that year.
• Dependent not declared. Only dependents named at enrolment are covered. Adding a spouse or a newborn requires a written intimation, not an assumption.
• Late intimation to the insurer, which is the single most common ground on which group mediclaim claims are reduced or repudiated.
• Treatment inside a policy waiting period for a pre-existing condition.

How the insurance scheme differs from the journalist pension scheme

Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme is often confused with the Bihar Patrakar Samman Pension Yojana, which the same department runs. They are distinct. The insurance scheme covers working journalists against accident and illness and requires a premium contribution. The pension scheme pays a monthly pension to retired journalists — an amount the state government raised to Rs 15,000 a month in 2025, with Rs 10,000 a month for the dependent spouse of a deceased pensioner. A journalist can be inside the insurance scheme during service and inside the pension scheme after retirement; they serve different stages of the same career.

Where to get help

• District Information & Public Relations Office in your district, the practical counter for enrolment forms, premium details and claim assistance.
• Information & Public Relations Department, Government of Bihar, Main Secretariat, Patna, the administering department for both accreditation and the insurance scheme.
• The insurer or Third Party Administrator named on your current policy certificate, for claim status and network hospital lists.

A note on verification. Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme is a small, department-administered scheme whose operational details, the current insurer, the exact rupee premium for the year, and the last date for annual enrolment, are circulated internally to accredited journalists rather than published on a public portal. The sum insured of Rs 5,00,000 for each limb, the 21 to 70 age band, the five-year experience requirement for independent journalists and the 20:80 premium split are the officially recorded parameters of the scheme. For the current year's premium figure and enrolment window, ask your District Information & Public Relations Office directly rather than relying on any secondary source.

How to check your application status

Bihar State Journalist Insurance Scheme is enrolled offline through the District Information & Public Relations Office, and there is no online portal or tracking number system for the enrolment form itself. Checking status means following up with the same office that took your paperwork, not logging into a website.

1. Keep your acknowledgement safe. When you submit the enrolment or renewal form at the District Information & Public Relations Office, the clerk should give you a dated acknowledgement or a receiving stamp on your copy of the form. This is your only reference point for a status query, so note the date of submission and the name of the official who received it.
2. Wait for the department's policy placement cycle. IPRD collects forms from across the state before it places the group policy with the insurer for that year, so a form is not activated the day it is submitted. There is usually a gap of some weeks between the enrolment deadline in the annual circular and the date the policy certificate or insurance card is actually issued.
3. Visit or call the District Information & Public Relations Office directly. Since the scheme runs on paper files rather than a tracked digital workflow, a phone call or an in-person visit to the same office, quoting your name, accreditation number and submission date, is the way to find out whether your form has been forwarded, whether the premium share has been reconciled, and whether your name is on the insurer's enrolled list for the year.
4. Confirm with the accreditation desk if the delay is long. Because enrolment depends on a current IPRD accreditation card, a status query is sometimes really an accreditation query. If your card is due for renewal, ask the same office whether the accreditation renewal, not the insurance form, is what is holding up your enrolment.
5. Ask specifically for the policy certificate or insurance card, once you are told the year's group policy has been placed. This is the document that proves you are covered, and it carries the policy number you will need at a hospital or when intimating an accident claim; a verbal confirmation of enrolment is not a substitute for it.

There is no published state-level helpline number for this scheme, so the District Information & Public Relations Office is the only working point of contact for a status check, and this is a different step from filing a claim once you already hold a policy certificate.