Ajeevika Angna (Aajeevika Angana Multi-Activity Centre for Women), Chhattisgarh

What is Ajeevika Angna?

Ajeevika Angna; written in Chhattisgarh as Aajeevika Angana (आजीविका अंगना): is a built multi-activity work centre where women of rural self-help groups carry out income-generating work under one roof. It is not a cash scheme with an application form. It is a physical facility, and the benefit a woman gets from it is the work, the training and the support services available inside it.

The first Aajeevika Angana in Chhattisgarh was built at Ganiyari, in Takhatpur block of Bilaspur district, and inaugurated by the then Chief Minister on 1 August 2019, on the day of Hareli Tihar. Reported figures put the cost of the centre at about Rs 3.68 crore and its area at about 2.5 acres.

At the time of its opening, roughly 600 to 650 women from self-help groups were working there at the same time in different self-employment activities. Reported activities include the stitching of school uniforms and jute bags and the manufacture of sanitary napkins, alongside training and skill development. Reports at the launch also spoke of extending the model to other districts, with a target of benefiting around 20,000 women and young people.

What does the centre provide to the women who work there?

Two support services distinguish an Aajeevika Angana from an ordinary workshed, and both address the reasons rural women drop out of paid work:

• A subsidised canteen meal at Rs 5, so that a woman does not have to carry food from home for a full working day.
• Child care on the premises, so that a mother can bring a small child with her rather than stay away from work.

Alongside these, the centre offers training and skill development in the activities it hosts, and the shared space allows several groups to work with common equipment that no single group could afford on its own.

Who is eligible to work at Ajeevika Angna?

You can take part if:

• You are a woman living in the block where an Aajeevika Angana centre has been built.
• You are a member of a self-help group affiliated to Bihan, the Chhattisgarh State Rural Livelihood Mission. Space and activity inside the centre are allotted to groups.
• Your group has been allotted an activity at the centre by the district or block mission staff.

You cannot apply or are not eligible if:

• You live outside the block the centre serves — a woman cannot commute daily to a centre in another district.
• You are not in a registered self-help group. There is no individual enrolment route into the centre.
• You are looking for a cash grant. No money is paid for registering; income arises only from the goods produced and sold by the group.

What documents are needed?

How to apply to join an Ajeevika Angna centre

1. Find out whether a centre exists in your block. Ask the block office of Bihan, the Chhattisgarh State Rural Livelihood Mission, or the janpad panchayat. Coverage beyond the first centre at Ganiyari has not been publicly announced block by block, so this step is essential.
2. Join or form a self-help group. Approach the village organisation or the Bihan block staff, who help ten to twenty women form a group, open a group bank account and begin regular savings.
3. Ask for an activity allotment at the centre in the group's name. The block or district mission staff decide which activities a centre can host and which group runs each one.
4. Complete the training offered for that activity before production starts.
5. Begin work and keep the group ledger. Sale proceeds are credited to the group account and distributed to members according to the group's own rules.

How to apply offline through the block office

1. Visit the janpad panchayat / block Bihan office with your group's registration papers and ask for the Aajeevika Angana activity list.
2. Submit a written request in the group's name and take a dated acknowledgement.
3. Escalate to the District Mission Manager, Bihan, at the zila panchayat if the block office does not respond.

Where do I get more information or complain?

• Block Bihan office / janpad panchayat, for centre availability, group formation and activity allotment.
• District Mission Manager, Bihan, at the zila panchayat office.
• Bilaspur district administration for questions specific to the Ganiyari centre.
• State Rural Livelihood Mission, Chhattisgarh (Bihan) for state-level queries.

A note on how much is published about this scheme

Ajeevika Angna is a narrow, facility-based initiative rather than a statewide entitlement, and very little is published about it on official portals. The verified facts available are the Ganiyari centre's opening date of 1 August 2019, its approximate cost of Rs 3.68 crore, its 2.5-acre area, the 600 to 650 women working there, the activities listed above and the Rs 5 canteen meal and creche. Details such as a statewide list of centres, an application form, a budget head or a helpline number are not published on any official source we could verify, and are therefore not stated here. Confirm current status with your block Bihan office before making plans around the scheme.