Pension Scheme for Media Persons Above 60 Years

What is the Haryana Pension Scheme for Media Persons Above 60 Years?

Pension Scheme for Media Persons Above 60 Years is a welfare scheme of the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Government of Haryana, that pays a monthly pension to senior accredited journalists in the state. The scheme was notified on 7 December 2017 under memo number 8/367/2017-3P and originally paid Rs 10,000 per month.

According to the notification dated 14 November 2023, published in the Haryana Government Gazette on 21 November 2023, the monthly pension was increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000. The same amendment added a Parivar Pehchan Patra requirement, removed the annual life certificate for Haryana residents, and changed the family pension provision.

The scheme covers accredited media persons working with daily, evening, weekly, fortnightly and monthly newspapers, news agencies, radio stations and news channels. In everyday use in Haryana the scheme is often called the patrakar pension yojana.

Key features

• Monthly pension of Rs 15,000, credited to an Aadhaar-linked bank account.
• Minimum age of 60 years on the date of application.
• Minimum 20 years of experience in journalism on a salary or remuneration basis in the state of Haryana.
• Minimum 5 years of accreditation with the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Haryana.
• Expenditure is borne by the Samvad Society, which receives grant-in-aid from the department and deposits the pension into beneficiary accounts.

The department publishes a list of media persons receiving the monthly pension on its own portal; the list currently carried on prharyana.gov.in names 237 media persons.

Who is eligible for the Haryana media persons pension?

You can claim the pension if all of the following are true:

• You are above 60 years of age.
• You have at least 20 years of experience in journalism on a salary or remuneration basis in the state of Haryana.
• You have been accredited with the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Haryana for at least 5 years.
• You work, or worked, with a daily, evening, weekly, fortnightly or monthly newspaper, a news agency, a radio station or a news channel.
• You hold a Parivar Pehchan Patra, or a temporary Parivar Pehchan Patra if you do not reside in Haryana.
• You have an Aadhaar-linked savings bank account in a nationalised bank.
• No criminal proceedings are pending against you.

You are not eligible, or the pension is withdrawn, in these situations:

• You are below 60 years of age.
• You fall short of the 20-year journalism experience requirement or the 5-year accreditation requirement.
• A criminal case is registered against you at any time, including after the pension is sanctioned.
• Your conduct is found to be against the set principles or ethics of journalism, as judged by the department.
• Another member of your family ID already draws this pension. Only one member per Parivar Pehchan Patra family ID is eligible.
• You wish to draw the Old Age Samman Allowance as well. The 2023 notification makes a recipient of this pension ineligible for that allowance.

The partial-deduction rule. A media person already receiving a pension or honorarium from another state government or a news organisation remains eligible. However, if you draw a pension of less than Rs 15,000 a month from the State of Haryana, the Central government, another state government or a public sector undertaking, your entitlement under this scheme is reduced by that amount. A journalist drawing Rs 6,000 from another source, for example, receives Rs 9,000 under this scheme rather than the full Rs 15,000.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Haryana media persons pension

The route depends on the level at which you work as a journalist. The 2023 notification sets out three separate channels.

1. Confirm you meet all three thresholds before applying: age above 60, 20 years in journalism in Haryana, and 5 years of accreditation with the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department.
2. Obtain the prescribed proforma for the scheme. The department publishes the scheme notification and application route under the Media Persons' Corner section of prharyana.gov.in.
3. Choose the correct submission channel:

• State-level journalists apply directly to the State Headquarters of the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department in Chandigarh.
• District, sub-division and block-level journalists apply through the District Information and Public Relations Officer of their district.
• Journalists based in the National Capital Territory of Delhi apply through the Joint Director, Deputy Director or Incharge of the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Haryana, New Delhi.

4. Attach the photocopies of your Aadhaar card and Parivar Pehchan Patra. If you are not a resident of Haryana, attach your Aadhaar card with a temporary Parivar Pehchan Patra.
5. Submit the completed application. The concerned in-charge forwards the application, complete in all respects and with their comments, to the Director General or Director, Information, Public Relations and Languages Department.
6. Track the decision. A five-member committee reviews each application and makes a recommendation. The Administrative Secretary of the department is competent to accord sanction.

How to apply online through Antyodaya SARAL

The department directs applicants to the state's single-window services portal for this pension.

1. Open saralharyana.gov.in and register with your mobile number and email, or sign in if you already have an account.
2. Search the service list for the grant of monthly pension to accredited media persons under the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department.
3. Fill the application form, entering your Parivar Pehchan Patra family ID, Aadhaar number and accreditation details.
4. Upload scanned copies of the documents listed above.
5. Submit the form and note the application reference number shown on screen. Use it to track the application status on the same portal.

Applicants who prefer assisted submission can visit an Antyodaya SARAL Kendra. The department publishes a list of SARAL Kendra locations on prharyana.gov.in.

How is the pension paid?

The Administrative Secretary of the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department sanctions the pension. The expenditure is borne by the Samvad Society, which receives grant-in-aid from the department. After sanction, the Samvad Society deposits the monthly amount directly into the beneficiary's Aadhaar-linked bank account.

Under the original 2017 notification, beneficiaries had to furnish a certificate every January confirming that their Aadhaar-linked account was operative. The 2023 amendment removed the annual life certificate requirement for pensioners who are residents of Haryana and hold a Parivar Pehchan Patra.

What happens after the beneficiary dies?

The 2023 notification provides that half the monthly pension, that is Rs 7,500, continues to the surviving spouse. The spouse qualifies only if he or she is not receiving any salary, contract fee, pension or remuneration from any other organisation or from the Central government, a state government or a public sector undertaking.

This is a change from the 2017 notification, which had allowed the full monthly pension to continue to the spouse on the same no-other-income condition. Families of pensioners sanctioned before November 2023 should read the current notification rather than rely on the older text.

Why applications get rejected

• Accreditation short of 5 years with the Haryana department, which is the most common technical shortfall.
• Experience short of 20 years, or experience that cannot be documented on a salary or remuneration basis in Haryana.
• No Parivar Pehchan Patra, which has been mandatory since November 2023.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-linked, which blocks the credit even after sanction.
• Pending criminal proceedings against the applicant.
• A second claim from the same family ID, since only one member per Parivar Pehchan Patra is eligible.
• Undeclared pension from another source, which affects the amount payable and can hold up the case at the committee stage.

Where a Parivar Pehchan Patra or Aadhaar detail is wrong, correct it in the respective database first, because the department verifies against those records rather than against the paper application.

Who decides and where to complain

A five-member committee constituted by the department reviews each application and gives its recommendation for grant of pension. In all cases the decision of the Government of Haryana is final, and the notification states that where any dispute arises out of the interpretation of a clause of the scheme, the decision of the State Government shall be final.

• Information, Public Relations and Languages Department, Haryana, for queries related to schemes and services, call 0172-3968400.
• District Information and Public Relations Officer of your district — the first point of contact for district, sub-division and block-level journalists.
• Antyodaya SARAL portal at saralharyana.gov.in, for tracking an online application and lodging a service-delivery grievance.

The department publishes the list of media persons already drawing the pension on prharyana.gov.in, which is a useful check for anyone unsure whether an earlier application was sanctioned.

How to check your application status

Tracking depends on which of the two application routes you used.

If you applied online through Antyodaya SARAL:

1. Go to saralharyana.gov.in and log in with the mobile number and email you used to register.
2. Open Track Application Status (sometimes listed as View Status or Application Status on the dashboard).
3. Enter the application reference number you received on screen at the time of submission. Keep this number safely; the portal does not let you look up a status by name or Aadhaar number alone.
4. The portal shows the current stage: received at the department, forwarded to the District Information and Public Relations Officer or State Headquarters, under committee review, sanctioned, or rejected with a stated reason.
5. If the status has not moved for several weeks, use the grievance or feedback option on the same portal rather than resubmitting a fresh application, since a duplicate application under the same Parivar Pehchan Patra family ID can itself cause delay or rejection.

If you applied offline (through the District Information and Public Relations Officer, State Headquarters at Chandigarh, or the Delhi office):

1. There is no online reference number for an offline file, so follow up directly with the office where you submitted the application.
2. District, sub-division and block-level applicants should contact their District Information and Public Relations Officer, quoting the date of submission and the name of the official who received the papers.
3. State-level applicants should follow up with the State Headquarters of the Information, Public Relations and Languages Department in Chandigarh, and Delhi-based applicants with the Joint Director, Deputy Director or Incharge of the department's Delhi office.
4. Ask specifically whether the file has been forwarded to the Director General or Director for placement before the five-member committee, since that is the stage most applications sit at for the longest.
5. For a general query on where a file stands, or if the local office is unresponsive, call the department helpline at 0172-3968400.

Once sanctioned: the department does not send a separate confirmation letter in every case, so the most reliable independent check is the list of media persons currently drawing the pension, which the department publishes on prharyana.gov.in. If your name appears there, the Samvad Society has started crediting the pension to your Aadhaar-linked account; if it does not appear after a reasonable wait post-sanction, raise the gap with your District Information and Public Relations Officer rather than assuming the payment will start on its own.