Sri Lanka’s government has allocated 15 million rupees to form a contributory pension scheme for 327 artists, as an initial phase of the programme.
Citizens between the age of 23 and 55 who satisfy the eligibility criteria as artists will be given priority, a cabinet decision said.
The cabinet has granted its approval to the Cultural Affairs Department to retain five percent of the allocated 15 million rupees for the initial promotion of this pension scheme.
Under this scheme, the government will initially provide 50,000 rupees for each beneficiary and selected artists will have to pay their installments monthly based on their age and ability to pay.
Artists who fail to pay their installments will be replaced with another artist and those who fail to pay their installments even for one month will not be absorbed into the scheme again, the cabinet decision added.
Social security board will implement the project from next year.