Bhubaneswar: In a yet another populist move, the state government Monday announced a monthly stipend of `1200 for 50,000 artistes in the state.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the monthly allowance to the artistes will be given under a scheme called ‘Mukhya Mantri Kalakar Sahayata Yojana (MMKSY).’ At present, the government provides `1000 monthly stipend to 4,000 artistes.
To ensure early coverage of artistes under the scheme, the CM said the state government has decided to relax the age limits of both male and female artistes by 10 years. Accordingly, the age limit of the male artistes has been relaxed from 60 to 50 while the age limit of female artistes has come down from 50 to 40. It was decided that the process of distributing the pensions will be a decentralized. District collectors have been given responsibilities of identifying eligible artistes in their districts and grant the monthly allowances to them.
The CM reviewed the proposals taken in the heritage cabinet meeting at Puri last month where he had approved many proposals.
PNN