State Reward to the Recipient of National Award

What is the State Reward to the Recipient of National Award?

State Reward to the Recipient of National Award is a scheme of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa, formally titled the State Reward to the Recipient of National and International Awards Scheme 2016. It exists to give state recognition and a cash reward to a Goan artist who has already won a major national or international honour.

The Directorate's reasoning is set out in the notification itself: Goa has rich cultural talent, many of its artists have won name and fame at national and international level, and the State wants to acknowledge that as a token of appreciation from the Government of Goa.

The three stated objectives are:

1. To give state recognition to local artists receiving a national award.
2. To appreciate local talents and promote local artists.
3. To give financial support to local artists.

What the artist receives

• A financial purse of Rs 1,00,000 per individual.
• A memento.
• A certificate of appreciation.

All three are presented at a felicitation programme organised by the Directorate of Art and Culture after the Government approves the list.

Who is eligible for the State Reward?

You can be considered if:

• You are a Goan artist, which the scheme defines precisely as an artist who has spent at least 10 years in Goa out of his or her total creative lifetime.
• You have received any one of the following national awards:
• Sahitya Akademi Award
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
• Lalit Kala Akademi Award
• Padma Award for contribution in the field of art and culture: covering literature, music, dance, theatre, fine art, folk art and the like
• Bhartiya Dnyanpeeth Award
• Saraswati Sanman
• Sahitya Akademi Jivan Gaurav Puraskar (Lifetime Achievement Award)
• Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
• Any other national or international award specifically recognised by the Government of Goa for the purpose of this scheme from time to time
• You were already holding such an award when the scheme commenced, living artists who had received a qualifying award earlier were expressly made eligible.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• Your award is a Sahitya Akademi Award for translation, which the scheme excludes by name.
• Your award is not a main award of the listed institutions. Only the main awards count; subsidiary prizes and junior categories do not.
• You have already received this state reward once. The benefit is available only once even if you later win a second listed award.
• You are a Goan-origin artist who has not spent 10 years in Goa during your creative lifetime. The definition is about time in Goa, not birthplace.
• The nomination is posthumous. The scheme states plainly that no award shall be given posthumously.
• Your award is in a field outside art and culture and has not been specifically recognised by the Government of Goa for this scheme. A Padma award for science or industry does not automatically qualify here; the Gomant Vibhushan Award is the honour that covers those fields.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the State Reward to the Recipient of National Award

1. Visit the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of Goa, 5th Floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, Goa 403001, or download the proforma from the Directorate's website.
2. Print the proforma of the application form for this scheme, or request a hard copy from the concerned authority at the Directorate.
3. Fill in all mandatory fields, paste the passport-size photograph and sign it across, and state clearly which listed national or international award has been received and in which year.
4. Attach self-attested copies of the award certificate, proof of at least 10 years in Goa, biodata, bank details and the declaration that the reward has not been availed earlier.
5. Submit the duly filled and signed form with the documents to the Director or the ACO-III, Directorate of Art and Culture, phone 0832-2404606, email aco6-dac.goa@nic.in, and keep a copy of the submitted application.

How is the reward decided?

The Government constitutes a sub-committee for the purpose of this scheme. The sub-committee meets every year as and when required and considers the names of artists for the reward for that particular year. The rule it works to is year-based: recipients of a listed national award in the previous financial year are the ones taken up in the current year's meeting.

For the first year of the scheme's commencement, the rule was widened — all living artists who already held a qualifying award were considered together.

After scrutiny and selection, the sub-committee submits its recommendations to the Director of Art and Culture. Once those recommendations are received, the Directorate presents the financial purse, the memento and the certificate of appreciation at a felicitation programme, after obtaining due approval from the Government.

Who has been rewarded under this framework?

The Directorate publishes the list of Goan recipients of national awards recognised under the state rewards framework. The 2007-08 list alone included Mario Miranda of Loutolim (Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan), Manuel Santan Aguiar alias M. Boyer of Raia (Padma Shri and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award), Prasad Sawkar of Caranzalem (Padma Shri), Tulshidas Borkar of Borim (Sangeet Natak Akademi), and a long list of Sahitya Akademi awardees including Ravindra Kelekar, Damodar Mauzo, Pundalik N. Naik, Chandrakant Keni, Hema Naik, Jayanti Naik, Naguesh Karmali and Mahabaleshwar Sail. Reading that list is the quickest way to see the calibre of honour the scheme is built around.

Why an application may not succeed

• Award not on the list and not separately recognised by the Government of Goa for this scheme.
• Translation award submitted, which is excluded by name.
• Subsidiary or junior prize rather than the institution's main award.
• Less than 10 years in Goa, so the applicant does not meet the scheme's definition of a Goan artist.
• Benefit already availed once under this scheme.
• Posthumous nomination, which the scheme does not allow.

Where to get help

• Directorate of Art and Culture, 5th Floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, Goa 403001 to phone 0832-2404600.
• ACO-III, Directorate of Art and Culture, phone 0832-2404606, email aco6-dac.goa@nic.in, for the proforma and the status of an application.
• Grievances: if any grievance arises out of the implementation of this scheme, the Minister for Art and Culture hears and decides the matter, and that decision is final.

A note on the scheme's period

The 2016 notification, issued with the concurrence of the Finance Department under U.O. No. 1169/F dated 4 May 2016, stated that the scheme shall remain in force up to 31 March 2021. The Directorate of Art and Culture continues to list State Reward to the Recipient of National and International Awards Scheme 2016 among its awards, and the scheme is carried as active on the national myScheme portal. No fresh notification extending or repealing the period could be verified on an official Goa source, so an artist should confirm the current status with the Directorate of Art and Culture before preparing an application. This guide does not state a renewed validity period that could not be confirmed.

How to check your application status

This scheme has no online tracking system and no application ID or reference number is issued at submission, so status has to be followed up directly with the Directorate.

• Keep your submission copy ready. When you hand in the filled proforma, note the date of submission and the name of the official who received it at the Directorate counter. This is the only proof of submission you will have, since there is no acknowledgement slip or portal receipt.
• Call the ACO-III desk for an update. The sub-committee that reviews applications meets once a year, not on a fixed monthly cycle, so a phone check with ACO-III, Directorate of Art and Culture on 0832-2404606 is the fastest way to learn whether your file has reached the sub-committee's agenda for that year.
• Email for a written response. Writing to aco6-dac.goa@nic.in with your name, the award you hold and the date you submitted the form gives the Directorate a record to check against and is useful if you need to follow up again later.
• Ask specifically which year's list your case falls under. Because the sub-committee takes up artists who won a listed award in the previous financial year, an application submitted late in a financial year may only be considered in the following year's meeting rather than the one immediately after submission. Confirming this avoids assuming a file has been lost when it is simply queued for the next cycle.
• Watch for the felicitation programme announcement. Since the purse, memento and certificate are all handed over together at a Directorate felicitation event after Government approval, an invitation or public notice of that event is the clearest sign your case has been cleared. If a felicitation programme has taken place for the relevant year and you were not invited or informed, that is the point to raise a written query or grievance with the Directorate.
• Escalate through the Minister for Art and Culture only after the above steps. As the page notes, any grievance about how this scheme is implemented is decided by the Minister for Art and Culture, so this route is for unresolved status disputes, not a first point of contact.