Patrakar Kritadnyata Nidhi Scheme (Journalist Benevolent Fund)

What is the Patrakar Kritadnyata Nidhi Scheme?

The Patrakar Kritadnyata Nidhi Scheme, also called the Journalist Benevolent Fund, is a scheme of the Department of Information and Publicity, Government of Goa, notified under No. DI/Inf/Patr-Nidhi/2010/9746 and dated 19 March 2010. The Konkani and Marathi name Patrakar Kritadnyata Nidhi is the one most often used locally, and it translates roughly as a fund of gratitude towards journalists.

The scheme constitutes a standing fund for providing immediate financial assistance to needy journalists found to be in indigent circumstances. Unlike the Goa State Journalist Awards Scheme, which is a recognition award, the Patrakar Kritadnyata Nidhi is a welfare fund with a Rs 2,00,000 per case ceiling, administered by a Sub-Committee that meets as and when required.

An amount of Rs 10 lakh was provided initially to the Nidhi, and the notification records that the Government shall increase the fund by Rs 2 lakh every year to meet the requirement.

What emergencies does the fund cover?

The scheme's aims and objectives clause lists nine specific emergency cases:

1. Expenses on the marriage of a daughter.
2. Expenses on a major or minor operation, or medical treatment of self or family.
3. Expenses in connection with the funeral of the journalist.
4. Travel and incidental expenses for moving from a local hospital to another station for treatment.
5. Medical reimbursement for general expenses incurred by the journalist for self and family dependants.
6. Scholarships and incentives to the wards of journalists proceeding to higher education in the State and outside.
7. Financial assistance for a self-employment venture.
8. House repair or construction for journalists in the event of natural calamities.
9. Lumpsum grants on the death of the journalist to the next of kin.

Who is eligible for the Journalist Benevolent Fund?

A journalist can apply if:

• The applicant is a journalist born and brought up in the State of Goa.
• The applicant has worked in an established newspaper or periodical magazine for at least three years at a stretch, and a certificate to that effect is presented to the Department along with the application.
• The applicant is not engaged in any other profession.
• The applicant is duly registered with the Department of Information and Publicity, Government of Goa, and has renewed the registration by 30 June of the year.
• Alternatively, the journalist was born in Goa or has worked in a newspaper establishment in the State of Goa for at least three continuous years at a stretch, with proof submitted along with the application.
• The applicant submits a declaration that no financial assistance has been availed from the Government or any of its organisations.

A journalist is not eligible if:

• The applicant has availed benefits from other Government of Goa schemes for general citizens for the same purpose, the notification names the Kanyadan Scheme, Mediclaim, CMRY and the Disaster Management Scheme, and states the bar works both ways.
• The applicant is engaged in another profession besides journalism.
• The applicant has less than three years of continuous service in an established newspaper or periodical magazine.
• The applicant is not registered with the Department, or the registration has lapsed because it was not renewed by 30 June.

How much assistance is given?

The Rs 2 lakh ceiling for super speciality treatment, and the three-month window for submitting bills, come from the amendment dated 4 February 2011 under Notification No. DIP/Schemes/PKN/2010/6078.

What documents are required?

The prescribed form also asks for the field of journalism, the organisation presently worked in, particulars of significant work with testimonials, previous work experience with proof, annual income from all sources, a table of all dependants with age, relationship, marital status, occupation and monthly income, any journalism awards received, and the amount of financial assistance required.

How to apply for the Patrakar Kritadnyata Nidhi

1. Register with the Department of Information and Publicity as a journalist, in the form prescribed by the Department, and make sure the registration is current — it must be renewed by 30 June every year.
2. Obtain a certificate of three years' continuous service from your established newspaper or periodical magazine, and gather proof of having worked in a Goa newspaper establishment or of having been born in Goa.
3. Collect the prescribed application form from the Department of Information and Publicity, Udyog Bhavan, 3rd Floor, Panaji.
4. Affix your photograph and have it attested by a Gazetted Officer, and fill in the personal details, field of journalism, present organisation, previous experience, annual income and the full table of dependants.
5. Attach the case-specific evidence. For treatment, attach the original bills, photocopies of the hospital or institution documents, and a certificate from the doctor at the hospital where treatment is proposed or being taken.
6. Attach two recommendation letters from persons or institutions with technical knowledge of your work who can justify the work done.
7. Sign the declaration that no benefits or financial assistance have been availed from the Government or any of its organisations, and the undertaking to refund the amount if any statement is false.
8. Submit the application directly to the Director of Information and Publicity, and keep a copy with the date of submission.

Who decides, and how fast?

The Government constitutes a Sub-Committee with the Secretary (Information and Publicity) as Chairman, the President or Secretary of the Goa Union of Journalists and the President or Secretary of the Goa Editors Guild as Members, and the Director, Information and Publicity as Member Secretary.

The Sub-Committee meets as and when required and recommends the names of journalists in indigent circumstances to the Government. Where the Committee cannot meet, the Director of Information and Publicity obtains the Committee's view by circulation and sanctions immediate relief on the Government's approval, a route designed for genuine emergencies.

The Sub-Committee or the Government may also take suo-moto cognizance of a case based on information placed before it, without an application. In all such cases, detailed justification is kept on record.

On receipt of an application, the Director scrutinises it thoroughly and gives recommendations to the Sub-Committee, which decides the quantum of assistance. After Government approval, the Director disburses the one-time assistance. All disbursement is only through cheques.

Why applications get rejected

• Registration lapsed. The annual renewal by 30 June is a hard condition, and a lapsed registration is the commonest technical failure.
• Less than three years of continuous service in an established newspaper or periodical magazine, or no certificate to prove it.
• Same purpose already funded under Kanyadan, Mediclaim, CMRY or the Disaster Management Scheme.
• Engaged in another profession besides journalism.
• No original bills in a treatment case, or bills for super speciality treatment submitted more than three months after the treatment.
• Missing recommendation letters. Two are required by the form.

Where to raise a grievance

The scheme has its own redressal clause: if any grievance arises out of the implementation of the scheme, the Minister of Information and Publicity shall hear and decide the matter, and the Minister's decision is final. Questions of interpretation of any clause, word, expression or of the entire scheme lie with the Government.

The administering office is the Department of Information and Publicity, Udyog Bhavan, 3rd Floor, Panaji, Goa 403001, telephones 0832-2223157, 0832-2422675, 0832-2226047, email dipgoa@gmail.com. The full scheme text and the application form are published as a PDF on dip.goa.gov.in.

No fee is payable to apply. The Government is also supported to relax all or any clause of the scheme if deemed fit, for reasons to be recorded, which gives the Sub-Committee room in a genuinely hard case.

How to check your application status

The Patrakar Kritadnyata Nidhi Scheme has no online tracking portal and no application number system published for applicants to check status by themselves. Since the application is submitted on paper directly to the Director of Information and Publicity, follow-up also has to be done directly with that office.

1. Keep your acknowledgement. When you submit the application at Udyog Bhavan, note the date of submission and, if the office gives one, an acknowledgement or diary/inward number. This is the only reference you will have to quote later.
2. Call the Department of Information and Publicity on 0832-2223157, 0832-2422675 or 0832-2226047 and ask for the status of your application by your name and the date you submitted it. Since the Sub-Committee meets only as and when required rather than on a fixed monthly cycle, an application can genuinely sit pending until the next meeting is convened, so a few weeks' wait between calls is normal.
3. Email the Department at dipgoa@gmail.com with your name, registration details and the date of application if you are not able to get through by phone, and ask for a written update on whether the file has gone to the Sub-Committee.
4. Visit in person at the Department of Information and Publicity, Udyog Bhavan, 3rd Floor, Panaji, if the case is urgent, since emergency treatment cases can be routed to the Director for a view by circulation instead of waiting for a full Sub-Committee meeting.
5. Check that your registration is still valid if you have not heard back for a long time. A status enquiry is also a good opportunity to confirm your journalist registration with the Department has not lapsed, since it must be renewed by 30 June every year and a lapsed registration can hold up an otherwise valid application.
6. Ask specifically whether a cheque has been released once you are told the Sub-Committee has approved your case, since disbursement is only by cheque and there can be a separate gap between Sub-Committee approval and the cheque actually being issued.

There is no SMS alert or portal login for this scheme, so a phone call or visit to the Director's office remains the only reliable way to track a pending application.