Jharkhand Rajya Patrakar Swasth Bima Yojna

What is Jharkhand Rajya Patrakar Swasth Bima Yojna?

Jharkhand Rajya Patrakar Swasth Bima Yojna; in Hindi झारखण्ड राज्य पत्रकार स्वास्थ्य बीमा योजना; is a group health and personal accident insurance scheme for working journalists, run by the Information and Public Relations Department (Suchna Evam Jansampark Vibhag), Government of Jharkhand. It is governed by the Jharkhand Rajya Patrakar Swasthya Bima Yojana Niyamawali, 2021, published on the department's website under Act and Rules.

The Sankalp that introduces the Niyamawali states the reasoning: the state government is committed to strengthening the press and media as the fourth pillar of democracy, and the rules were framed to regulate the financial contribution, terms and conditions for providing group medical and personal accident insurance to media representatives working in Jharkhand. The rules extend to the whole of Jharkhand and took effect from the date the notification was issued.

The cover has two distinct parts, and they should not be confused with each other:

The personal accident cover pays on death or permanent disability or incapacity of the insured media representative arising from a personal accident. The mediclaim part covers treatment expenses for the group, and being on a floating basis means the Rs 5 lakh is a single pool the whole family draws from rather than Rs 5 lakh each.

The policy runs for one year. Rule 4 makes it compulsory for the media representative to complete all insurance formalities for the new year before the existing insurance period ends, and Rule 16(iii) confirms there is a provision for annual renewal.

Who is eligible for the journalist health insurance?

You can apply if:

• You are a media representative as defined in the rules: journalist, photojournalist, videographer journalist, chief editor, news editor, sub editor or news cartoonist, working with a daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly or tabloid newspaper, magazine, news agency, electronic media or new media web site or web portal, and defined under the Working Journalists and Other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1995.
• You reside in Jharkhand and your field of work is Jharkhand, with your residence at the place of work or posting stated in the application.
• Your organisation publishes or broadcasts at least 50 per cent news or news analysis and is on the state's approved list for release of government advertisements.
• You are regularly or contractually appointed by that organisation, and can produce a certificate or salary evidence to that effect.
• You are aged 21 to 60 years: Rule 16(vii) fixes that band.
• Your minimum educational qualification is graduation or equivalent, under Rule 16(viii).
• You have at least five years of experience in journalism, certified by your editor, employer or bureau chief, under Rule 16(xii).
• Alternatively, you are a freelance journalist holding a valid accreditation press card issued by the Information and Public Relations Department, valid at the time of filling the insurance application, under Rule 15(iii).

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You are below 21 or above 60 years of age.
• You are not a graduate or equivalent.
• You have less than five years of journalism experience.
• Your work place is outside Jharkhand, or your organisation is not on the state's approved advertisement list.
• You are not regularly or contractually appointed by a recognised media organisation and hold no valid departmental accreditation as a freelancer.
• You leave journalism or leave the organisation during the policy year. In that case the benefit ceases and your own premium contribution is forfeited.

Rule 21 also allows the Principal Secretary or Secretary of the department to fix, by executive order, the maximum number of media workers who may be insured from any one media organisation, and to amend the eligibility conditions applying to media institutions.

How much does the journalist pay?

The premium is shared 80:20 between the state government and the journalist. Rule 20 states the ratio directly, and Rule 8 sets out the mechanics: the media representative must deposit 20 per cent of the annual premium determined for cover of up to Rs 5.00 lakh, by banker's cheque, cheque or demand draft, into the account designated in the name of the Director, Information and Public Relations Directorate, by the notified date. The department deposits the remaining 80 per cent.

The rupee value of the premium is not fixed in the rules. Rule 5 provides that each year quotations are obtained from insurance companies in the public sector, rates are negotiated with the agency quoting the lowest rate, and the premium is then determined by the Principal Secretary or Secretary of the department. An MoU is then signed with the successful insurer under Rule 6. So the correct question to ask your District Public Relations Officer each year is "what is this year's premium", not "what was it last year".

Under Rule 7, the insurance is treated as effective from the date on which the whole premium, including the journalists' share, is transferred by the department into the insurance company's fund — not from the date you paid your share.

How to apply for Jharkhand Rajya Patrakar Swasth Bima Yojna

1. Go to the department's website, www.prdjharkhand.in, and complete the online application process first. Rule 17(ii) states that on completing it an ID code is generated for the applicant.
2. Fill in the eligibility particulars online. Rule 17(iii) allows the form to be downloaded only after the required eligibility entries have been made.
3. Download and print the form in the prescribed formats: Annexure "Ka" and "Kha" of the Niyamawali.
4. Attach the annexures: the appointment or affiliation certificate signed by the editor, employer or bureau chief, the five-year experience certificate, five stamp-size photographs, an attested copy of the date of birth certificate countersigned by the editor, the crossed or cancelled blank cheque for ECS, MICR and IFSC details, the receipt for your 20 per cent premium, full details of dependants and the nominee declaration, details of any other insurance or mediclaim policy you hold, and the notarised affidavit about criminal or judicial cases.
5. Submit the hard copy to your District Public Relations Officer. Freelance journalists must also attach a photocopy of the valid departmental press card.
6. The District Public Relations Officer receives the applications in three copies, keeps one, forwards the completed form online with a recommendation to the Patrakar Bima Koshang in the Press Branch at state headquarters, and also sends the hard copies.

Rule 17(v) provides that a dedicated "Patrakar Bima Koshang" (journalist insurance cell) is constituted under the Press Branch of the department at state headquarters, monitored by the Officer-in-Charge (Press), and staffed with a non-gazetted secretariat employee and a data entry operator specifically for this scheme.

How to use the cover and make a claim

1. Report immediately. Rule 12 requires that information about the treatment or the accident be given within a maximum of seven days to both the district office of the insurance company and the Information and Public Relations Department at Ranchi.
2. Use a network hospital for cashless treatment. Rule 14 states that the cashless facility is available at hospitals empanelled with the contracted insurance company, after assessment by the Third Party Administrator (TPA) appointed by that company.
3. Non-network hospitals are reimbursed, not cashless. Where the hospital is not on the insurer's list, the expense is reimbursed after assessment by the same TPA.
4. Keep the nominee declaration current, since Rule 11 makes the nominee declaration and the full particulars of dependants, spouse and two children. A condition of receiving reimbursement from the insurance company.

The insurance company is required to give the department immediate information about all such transactions, which is the state's audit trail on the scheme.

What the scheme does not cover

• Maternity cases are expressly excluded from the mediclaim part under Rule 16(iv).
• Cover beyond two children, or beyond age 21, or for married children, since the group is defined as the journalist, spouse and two unmarried dependent children up to 21 years.
• Anyone who has left journalism, whose benefit ceases and whose premium contribution lapses.

There is, however, no exclusion for pre-existing disease. Rule 16(ii) is unusually generous by insurance standards: all known and unknown pre-existing illnesses of every insured person are included, with no waiting period.

Why applications get rejected or held up

• Less than five years of journalism experience, or an experience certificate not signed by the editor, employer or bureau chief.
• No graduation certificate, against the Rule 16(viii) minimum.
• Age outside the 21 to 60 band on the date of application.
• The media organisation not being on the state's approved advertisement list, or publishing less than 50 per cent news content.
• Premium receipt not attached, so the 20 per cent share cannot be traced.
• Affidavit on criminal cases missing, which Rule 16(xvi) makes compulsory either way.
• Bank details unreadable, which is why a crossed or cancelled cheque rather than a handwritten account number is required.

Help and where to ask

• District Public Relations Officer of your district, the first and correct point of contact for this scheme at every stage.
• Patrakar Bima Koshang, Press Branch, Information and Public Relations Department, Ranchi, monitored by the Officer-in-Charge (Press).
• Department website prdjharkhand.in, which hosts the Niyamawali 2021 as well as the related Mukhyamantri Patrakar Jivan Bima Yojna 2019 and the Jharkhand Patrakar Samman Pension Niyamabali 2019.

Rule 18 records that the money needed to implement the scheme is provided through budgetary provision under the relevant head, so the scheme is funded from the state budget rather than from any levy on media houses. Applying costs nothing beyond your own 20 per cent premium share, which must be paid into the Director's designated account and never to an individual.

How to check your application status

The Niyamawali does not set up a public online status-tracking page for this scheme, so status checks are follow-up actions through the same offices that process the paperwork, not a portal lookup.

1. Note your ID code at registration. Rule 17(ii) says an ID code is generated once you complete the online eligibility entries on www.prdjharkhand.in. Keep this code: it is the reference your District Public Relations Officer (DPRO) and the state office will use to find your file, since there is no separate tracking number issued later.
2. Ask your District Public Relations Officer first. Under Rule 17(vi) the DPRO is the office that receives your three hard copies, retains one, and forwards the form online with a recommendation to state headquarters. The DPRO's office can tell you whether your form has actually been forwarded, or is still sitting with them for a missing document.
3. Follow up with the Patrakar Bima Koshang if the DPRO confirms forwarding. This journalist insurance cell, constituted under the Press Branch at state headquarters and monitored by the Officer-in-Charge (Press), is where forwarded applications are compiled before the premium and MoU process under Rules 5 and 6 goes through. Once your DPRO confirms your form has reached this cell, a follow-up there is the next step.
4. Check whether the year's premium and MoU process has been completed. Because your cover only becomes effective, under Rule 7, once the whole premium (state's 80 per cent plus your 20 per cent) is transferred into the insurance company's fund, an application can be technically approved and still show no live cover if that year's insurer MoU is not yet signed. Ask specifically whether the current year's insurer has been finalised, not just whether your form was received.
5. Use the department website for scheme-wide updates. prdjharkhand.in carries notices related to the Niyamawali and the premium and renewal cycle; checking it periodically is a reasonable way to see whether the current year's process has moved forward, even though it will not show your individual file status.

There is no dedicated helpline number published for this scheme, so the DPRO of your own district, followed by the Patrakar Bima Koshang at Ranchi if needed, is the realistic escalation path rather than a call centre.