LUCKNOW: The Bachchan family, actors Amitabh, Jaya and Abhishek, will be among the first beneficiaries of UP’s newly minted pension scheme for persons awarded the Yash Bharti Samman. The UP cabinet, on Tuesday, announced that all recipients of the state’s highest honour will be eligible to receive a Rs 50,000 monthly pension for life.

While the government has awarded nearly 150 persons of UP origin since the Yash Bharti award was instituted in 1994, the Bachchan family is the only one to have taken home the honours for four of its members. Amitabh Bachchan’s father, noted litterateur Harivasnsh Rai Bachchan was also conferred the honour in the inaugural year. The award is given for gaining eminence in the fields of films, art, literature and sport. Earlier, the award would fetch Rs 5 lakh but in its revised avatar, recipients are given a cash award of Rs 11 lakh, a shawl, and a citation.

Given by the department of culture, there is no fixed number recipients of the award which is discontinued whenever the SP is not in power. Early this year, the SP government gave the award to 56 persons. Singer Rekha Bhardwaj, classical vocalists Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra, poet Bekal Utsahi, Padma Shri awardee Arunima Sinha, ace shooter Jeetu Rai, Kathak dancer Kumkum Dhar, ghazal singer Reeta Ganguly, film actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Jimmy Shergil, singer Kailash Kher, and wrestler Alka Tomar were among the winner this year.

The monthly pension of Rs 50,000 is among the highest in the country to people, and may be more than what several government officials receive. At present, while freedom fighters and their spouses covered under the Freedom Fighters pension Scheme are eligible to Rs 20,129 per month, ex-Andaman political pensioners receive Rs 23,309 per month, unmarried and unemployed daughters of freedom fighters receive Rs 4,770 per month, and in cases where freedom fighters had two spouses, beneficiaries are entitled to Rs 10,064 per month.

The pension scheme for Yash Bharti recipients has also emerged as the most lucrative pension scheme among the prominent schemes prevailing in the country. The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI), for instance, pays Rs 15,000 to cricketers who have played at least 25 first class matches, while Rs 50,000 is payable to former test cricketers who have played at least 100 Test matches.

A Government of India pension scheme for old and poor artists, being implemented by UP’s department of culture, awards a sum of Rs 2,000 per month to performing artists who have earned a living through the profession for at least 10 years.

Announcing that the UP government will felicitate its prodigies, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav also ruled out the possibility that artists, sportspersons or litterateurs will return their awards under a Samajwadi Party government. Responding to queries on whether pension will be given if awards were returned, Akhilesh said, “Pension will be given to all recipients. The question of anyone being forced to return an award will not arise in Samajwadi regime.”

