Haryana Media Personnel Welfare Fund Administration Scheme

What is the Haryana Media Personnel Welfare Fund Administration Scheme?

Haryana Media Personnel Welfare Fund Administration Scheme is a state welfare scheme notified by the Haryana Government Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs Department on 28 August 2009 under notification No. 8/39/09-3PP. The scheme is sometimes referred to by its Hindi name, Patrakar Kalyan Kosh, in departmental papers.

According to the notification, the scheme exists "to provide timely and adequate financial assistance to the deserving members of the media working in various capacities in the state of Haryana or covering the state of Haryana or their dependents or legal heirs in cases of dire need on account of illness or demise or accident or other exigency". Implementation of the scheme, along with the Haryana Media Awards Rules, rests with the Press Section of the Directorate of Information, Public Relations and Languages.

This is a discretionary relief fund, not an entitlement scheme. There is no fixed benefit table, no annual quota and no monthly payment. A State Level Committee looks at each case on merit and sanctions what it thinks the case deserves, within a ceiling.

How much assistance does the fund give?

Paragraph 7 of the scheme sets the ceiling: the State Level Committee is competent to release assistance up to Rs 2.50 lakh in each case, and the government may increase that ceiling from time to time.

The corpus was set up with an initial grant-in-aid of Rs 50 lakh from the State Government, held in a separate account with a nationalised bank maintained by the Samvad Society, and any sum spent out of the fund is reimbursed by the State Government. The account is operated by the Member Secretary or Executive Director of the Samvad Society, countersigned by the Additional Director, Information and Public Relations. All payments are made by account payee cheque, and the fund is audited by auditors appointed by the Samvad Society.

Beyond the one-time ex-gratia, the scheme allows two further heads on the death of a media personnel beneficiary:

• Recurring educational assistance for the school-going children of the deceased.
• Financial assistance for the marriage of a daughter of the deceased.

While considering any request, the Committee must take into account the financial condition of the applicant and may call for documents and evidence before sanctioning.

Who is eligible for the Haryana media welfare fund?

The scheme defines a "media personnel beneficiary" widely. The following can apply:

• A working journalist as defined in the Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,

• Media personnel whose avocation is writing or reporting for newspapers, news magazines or news channels including radio, TV or web-based services, whole-time, part-time or on job work. The definition expressly names editors, reporters, news readers, cartoonists, photographers, cameramen, photo journalists, columnists, page visualisers, page designers, writers, news editors, sub-editors, feature writers, copy and proof readers, and freelance journalists.
• A contractual media personnel, a media representative engaged on regular or part-time contract by an Editor, News Editor or appointing authority on a fixed monthly remuneration.
• A stringer or contract-for-service news representative, not in whole-time employment of any newspaper, news agency or electronic media, paid a fee, honorarium or job-work payment. Their main avocation may or may not be journalism.
• An editor-cum-correspondent of a weekly, daily, evening, fortnightly or monthly publication, or of an electronic news channel, radio, TV or internet news service.
• Support service personnel to electronic or print media.
• A retired media personnel, a working media person who retired after a minimum of ten years of service as a working media person, has attained the age of 58 years, and has not taken up any gainful employment other than journalism after retirement.
• Any other category associated with media or journalism as decided by the government.
• The dependants or legal heirs of any of the above.

The following cannot apply and are not eligible:

• Persons employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity.
• Persons employed in a supervisory capacity who, by the duties attached to their office or the powers vested in them, perform functions mainly of a managerial nature.
• Anyone outside the definition of media personnel beneficiary who has no media employment or engagement in or covering Haryana.

Note also what is not an eligibility bar: there is no accreditation requirement written into the scheme, no minimum service condition except for the retired category, and no income ceiling. The Committee weighs financial condition as a factor rather than applying a fixed income cut-off.

Who decides the claims?

The fund is administered by a State Level Committee headed by the Minister-in-Charge of the Information and Public Relations Department, and in his absence by the Parliamentary Secretary or Chief Parliamentary Secretary looking after the department. Its members are:

• Commissioner and Secretary to Government, Haryana, Information and Public Relations Department
• Director, Information and Public Relations Department, Haryana, or the Additional Director where one person holds both the CIPR and DIPR posts
• Member Secretary or Executive Director, Haryana Samvad Society
• Joint Director (Press), Information and Public Relations Department, Haryana
• Deputy Director (Press), Information and Public Relations Department, Haryana: Member Secretary of the Committee
• Any other media professional, representative of a media persons' organisation, or state or central government officer co-opted by the Committee

In an emergency the Committee may, by resolution, authorise any of its members to grant assistance immediately, with ex-post-facto approval taken later. Until such an appointment is made, the Commissioner and Secretary, Information and Public Relations Department is the authority to grant assistance in emergent cases.

How to apply for the Haryana Media Personnel Welfare Fund

1. Download the scheme document from the Rules and Policies section of prharyana.gov.in, under "Welfare Fund Administration Scheme", and take the Schedule-I application form from it.
2. Fill the Schedule-I form with the name of the media person, the applicant's name and address where the media person has died, age and date of birth, full address with proof of residence, the media organisation, the nature of engagement, the amount of assistance sought, and the reason for it.
3. Attach documentary proof of the reason — proof of illness, medical expenditure invoices and bills, accident record, death certificate or proof of the exigency claimed.
4. Disclose other assistance received at item 10 of the form: aid from the PM or CM Relief Fund, from the employer, or from any media organisation or association.
5. Sign the certification and undertaking at item 11, confirming the particulars are true and undertaking to refund the assistance with interest if it is later found to have been obtained on false information.
6. Get the Schedule-II report completed by the President or Secretary of the media persons' association or union, the employer, or the District Information and Public Relations Officer, verifying the applicant's status and relationship with the media person.
7. Submit the complete application to the Member Secretary of the Committee: addressed to the Director, Information and Public Relations Department, Haryana, Chandigarh, marked for the attention of the Joint Director (Press), Media Centre Haryana, 8th Floor, Haryana Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh.

The Committee may ask for additional information and may amend the application form as required. On the Committee's recommendation, the assistance is sanctioned out of the fund and paid by account payee cheque.

What applicants most often get wrong

• Treating the assistance as an entitlement. Paragraph 17 states that grant of assistance is not a matter of right, that it depends on the Committee's satisfaction and on funds available, and that there is no appeal against the Committee's decision. The Committee may reject or accept any application without assigning reasons.
• Sending the form without the Schedule-II report. The verification report from the association, employer or District Information and Public Relations Officer is part of the prescribed process.
• Omitting other relief already received. Item 10 is mandatory disclosure, and non-disclosure is exactly the kind of suppression that triggers recovery.
• Applying in a managerial capacity. Managerial and mainly-supervisory roles are carved out of the definition of media personnel.
• Weak proof of the exigency. Bills, medical records and certificates carry the case; a bare request letter usually does not.

Recovery of wrongly obtained assistance

Paragraph 11 of the scheme allows financial assistance to be recovered at any time where it is found that it was obtained on the basis of information known to be false, or by suppression or misrepresentation of true facts, along with interest at the prevailing interest rates applicable in nationalised banks. The applicant signs an undertaking to this effect on the Schedule-I form itself.

Whom to contact about the fund

• Press Section, Directorate of Information, Public Relations and Languages, Haryana: phone 0172-5059175
• Directorate office: SCO No. 200-201, Sector 17-C, Chandigarh, phone 0172-5059129
• Joint Director (Press): Media Centre Haryana, 8th Floor, Haryana Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh, the address to which the Schedule-I form is marked
• District Information and Public Relations Officer in your district, who can complete the Schedule-II verification report
• Scheme document: prharyana.gov.in, Rules and Policies, "Welfare Fund Administration Scheme"

Applying to the fund is free. The Directorate does not charge for the form or for processing, and the money, when sanctioned, is paid by account payee cheque in the applicant's name.

How to check your application status

There is no online tracking portal for the Haryana Media Personnel Welfare Fund. Because this is a discretionary relief fund decided case by case by a State Level Committee rather than a scheme with a fixed disbursal calendar, status has to be followed up directly with the office that holds the file.

1. Note your submission details before you follow up. Keep a copy of the filled Schedule-I form, the date you submitted it, and the name of the official (usually at the Directorate, or the District Information and Public Relations Officer who forwarded it) who received the papers. There is no receipt number generated by a portal, so this paper trail is what you will refer to on every call.
2. Call the Press Section first. The Press Section of the Directorate of Information, Public Relations and Languages, Haryana, at 0172-5059175, handles the Welfare Fund file and can tell you whether the application has reached the Member Secretary, is listed for the next Committee meeting, or has already been decided.
3. Try the Directorate's general line if the Press Section is unreachable. The Directorate office at SCO No. 200-201, Sector 17-C, Chandigarh can be reached on 0172-5059129 and can redirect the query internally.
4. Go through your District Information and Public Relations Officer if you applied through one. Where the Schedule-II verification report was completed by the District Information and Public Relations Officer rather than an employer or association, that district office is often faster to respond than calling Chandigarh directly, since it usually keeps its own record of what it forwarded and when.
5. Ask specifically whether the file is complete, not just "what is the status". Because the scheme is discretionary and the Committee can ask for more documents at any point, a large share of delay is the file sitting incomplete rather than sitting in a queue. Confirming whether Schedule-II, the disclosure at item 10, and the supporting medical or death documentation have all been received is usually more useful than asking when the money will arrive.
6. Expect no fixed timeline. Since assistance is sanctioned by a committee that meets periodically (except where emergency powers are invoked and a single officer sanctions relief pending ex-post-facto approval), there is no statutory number of days within which a decision must be made. Persistent but polite follow-up by phone, rather than waiting for a written response, is the realistic way to track a pending case.
7. Once sanctioned, confirm the cheque details rather than a portal status. Assistance is paid by account payee cheque in the applicant's name, so the practical next step after a positive decision is confirming with the Member Secretary's office when the cheque has been issued and where it will be sent or collected from.