The condition of Bollywood, the mainstream Hindi filmmaking industry, is deteriorating by the day, with several high-budget and big-banner films suffering widespread boycotts for various reasons. The most recent is Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha, which is facing a popular boycott. Aamir Khan’s past anti-India rants, his negative and derogatory portrayal of Hindu Gods in his film PK, and his explicitly political remarks have all led to the film’s rejection by the viewers.
As the industry has drawn the ire of the general public by making popular opinions irrelevant and producing films that are overtly explicit and disparaging towards the majority, it is worth noting that hundreds of artists and filmmakers in Bollywood used to receive a monthly pension from the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh. The pensions were discontinued only after Yogi Adityanath became the state’s chief minister, putting paid to the government-funded scheme of doling out Bollywood artists and filmmakers with a monthly pension.
Yogi Adityanath puts a stop to doling out Bollywood artists and filmmakers with monthly pensions
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared in an interview that the state has now stopped offering free stuff. When questioned if he had discontinued providing pension to filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, he said, “We’ve stopped giving out freebies. Whether it was Anurag Kashyap or anyone else, their habits worsened after obtaining funds for free. Undoubtedly, the money belongs to the state’s inhabitants and must be used accordingly.”
In 2016, a year before the state assembly elections, Akhilesh Yadav, the then-chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, announced a scheme to provide monthly pensions of Rs 50,000 to Yash Bharti Samman awardees in the state. As per the scheme, 172 beneficiaries received the pension till February 2017. Raj Babbar, his wife Nadira Raj Babbar, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, Vishal Bharadwaj, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui were among those who benefited.
Aside from a monthly pension, the awardee received Rs 11 lakh, a shawl, and a certificate. Yash Bharti Samman, started by Mulayam Singh Yadav in 1994, was disbanded by the Mayawati government, but Akhilesh Yadav revived it in 2013. The government declared in October 2015 that recipients will receive a monthly pension.
Yogi Adityanath ordered a full assessment of the Yash Bharti awards, concentrating on the process for determining honorees, during a review meeting of the cultural department on April 21, 2017. The CM stated that the dignity of the recipients should be maintained because honouring ineligible persons compromised the honour. He had also stated that action would be taken based on the review report.
Later in December 2020, it was reported that the Uttar Pradesh government intended to discontinue the Yash Bharti Samman in favour of a new honour called the Rajya Sanskriti Puraskar. According to the government’s proposal, this award will be bestowed to a total of 25 people in the field of literature, arts, sports, social service, culture, medicine, education, etc. The top reward in this scheme would be Rs 5 lakh, awarded in the name of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
