Overview:

The Assam Journalists' Family Benefit Scheme is a supportive scheme which was first introduced in the financial year 2014-15. It was notified by the Government vide no. IPRD.62/2015/110 dated 29th February, 2016. Under this scheme, financial assistance is provided to the family of the deceased Journalist upon his/her untimely death. The government has already framed rules for this scheme. And an amount of Rs one crore has been provsioned in the corpus fund for the financial year 2017-18.

Untimely death means the unnatural death of a journalist occurring as a result of any crime/extremist act or accident (natural or manmade) while performing his/her duties as assigned by their respective media houses.

Eligibility Criteria:

• The journalist should be citizen of India
• He/She should be accredited/recognized by Director of Information & Public Relations (DIPR), Assam
• Age coverage would be upto 60 years
• Assistance will be given to the next-of-kin of the deceased journalist
• The Superintendent of Police shall report about the untimely death to the I&PR Department.
• I&PR Department shall verify the claim of the family members on the basis of the reports provided by the Superintendent of Police.
• Family here means the following and assistance will be given the following order of priority:

1) Widow or Widower

2) Unemployed son, below the age of 28 years

3) Unmarried and unemployed daughter below the age of 28 years

4) Dependent Father

5) Dependent Mother 

Guidelines:

Procedure for sanction from the scheme:

• Application for grant of financial assistance shall be submitted to the Convener of the Committee (Director, DIPR) in the form prescribed in Schedule-I. This shall be accompanied by a report in the form prescribed in Schedule-II. Proposals for assistance will be initiated by the DIPR, with specific recommendations and supporting documents which shall be placed before the Committee. However in case of urgency/ emergency, decision may be taken with the approval of the Chairperson. A report shall be submitted in the next meeting of the Committee for its approval.
• The Convener of the Committee (Director, DIPR) may also put up deserving cases for grant of financial assistance. Provided that all the particulars in schedule I and II are obtained from the intended beneficiaries.
• All the applications shall be scrutinized by the committee. The committee may also ask for other certificates and evidences regardig the current financial situation before sanctioning any sort of assistance.
• Financial assistance shall be provided on the date of issue of the order sanctioning the assistance, unless otherwise specified therein.
• Matters incidental to the scheme which are covered by these rules but are are not specifically provided for shall also be regulated by the committee.
• In addition to the conditions prescribed for assistance, the Committee may lay down any other condition or guidelines with prior approval of Government.
• The Chairman of the Committee may sanction interim financial assistance from the fund to meet emergency needs in most deserving cases. The Committee may however prescribe the maximum limit that can be sanctioned by the Chairman in such emergent cases.
• The fund shall be jointly operated by the Vice-Chairman and Member Secretary/Convener of the Committee who shall maintain a separate account for the same.
• The account of the fund shall be maintained by the Accounts Branch of the DIPR, under the supervision of the Finance & Accounts Officer of the DIPR, with return to be sent to Financial Adviser, I& PRD periodically.
• Periodic Audit may be conducted by the Auditor of AG (Audit).

Documents Required:

Applicants will have to provide the following:

• Form prescribed in Schedule-I
• Form prescribed in Schedule-II
• Other certificates and evidences regarding the current financial situation

How to apply:

 Applicants can apply by providing the following:

• Form prescribed in Schedule-I
• Form prescribed in Schedule-II
• Other certificates and evidences regarding the current financial situation

Type of Service:

 Offline: Yes

Forms to be filled:

Whom to Contact: