Theka Shramik, Gharelu Mahila Kamgar Evam Hamal Shramik Prasuti Sahayta Yojana

What is the Prasuti Sahayta Yojana for contract, domestic and hamal workers?

Theka Shramik, Gharelu Mahila Kamgar Evam Hamal Shramik Prasuti Sahayta Yojana is a maternity and paternity assistance scheme of the Labour Department, Government of Chhattisgarh, delivered through the Chhattisgarh Unorganised Workers State Social Security Board. The scheme puts cash into the hands of registered unorganised workers around the time of childbirth, when a woman in casual or contract work usually has to stop earning and a household's income drops just as its costs rise.

The scheme name identifies the three worker groups it was written for; theka shramik (contract workers), gharelu mahila kamgar (domestic women workers) and hamal shramik (load carriers and porters). In practice the entitlement follows registration with the board rather than the job title, so any worker carrying a valid unorganised worker registration in Chhattisgarh works within the same rules.

According to the Chhattisgarh Labour Department scheme listing, the scheme was started for unorganised workers on 5 June 2018. A separate note in the same official listing gives the start date as 11 March 2015, which appears to refer to an earlier version of the scheme before it was folded into the board's current benefit set. Readers should treat the commencement date as uncertain between those two, and rely on the benefit and eligibility terms below, which are consistent across the department's material.

Key features

• Rs 4,200 paid in the third month of pregnancy to a registered woman worker.
• Rs 2,800 paid in the eighth month of pregnancy, taking the maternity total to Rs 7,000.
• Rs 3,000 paid to a registered male worker as paternity assistance after the birth of the child.
• Limited to two children per worker.
• Requires prior registration with the Chhattisgarh Unorganised Workers State Social Security Board.
• Applications are filed online on the Chhattisgarh Labour Department portal.

Who is eligible for maternity assistance under this scheme?

You can claim if all of the following are true:

• You are a registered worker under the Chhattisgarh Unorganised Workers State Social Security Board, holding a valid labour registration card.
• You are between 18 and 60 years old.
• You are a resident of Chhattisgarh and can produce a permanent residence certificate.
• The claim is for your first or second child.
• For the maternity component, you are the pregnant woman worker herself and are at the third or eighth month of pregnancy at the time of the respective claim.
• For the paternity component, you are the male registered worker and the child has been born.

You cannot apply, or will be found not eligible, if:

• You are not registered with the Chhattisgarh Unorganised Workers State Social Security Board. Registration is the gateway condition and there is no route into the scheme without it.
• You are under 18 or over 60.
• The claim is for a third or subsequent child. The scheme is capped at two children.
• Your registration has lapsed or your registration card details do not match your Aadhaar and bank records.
• You are not a resident of Chhattisgarh.

How to apply for the Prasuti Sahayta Yojana

Application is online, on the Chhattisgarh Labour Department portal. Which path you take depends on whether you are already registered with the board.

If you are not yet a registered unorganised worker:

1. Open the official Chhattisgarh Labour Department website and, on the home page, click Apply under Chhattisgarh Unorganised Workers State Social Security Board.
2. Set Group Name to Asangathit Karmakar Mandal, Service to Asangathit Shramik Panjikaran, and What do you want to do to Aavedan, then click Next.
3. Read the eligibility conditions for registration with the board, confirm them, and click Next.
4. Fill in the online registration form with your name, age, Aadhaar number, address and work details, and submit it.
5. Keep the registration number issued to you. It is the number every later scheme claim is filed against.

If you are already a registered unorganised worker:

1. Open the Chhattisgarh Labour Department website and click Apply under Chhattisgarh Unorganised Workers State Social Security Board.
2. Set Group Name to Asangathit Karmakar Mandal, Service to Yojana, and What do you want to do to Aavedan, then click Next.
3. Select your district and enter your old or new registration number, then click Next.
4. Select this scheme from the list of schemes shown against your registration.
5. Fill in the required details, upload the documents: labour registration card, Aadhaar, permanent residence certificate and ration card copy, and submit.

The Chhattisgarh Labour Department also publishes an Android app for the labour portal, which mirrors the same registration and scheme application flow for workers who find the mobile route easier than the website.

What documents are required?

Scan each document clearly before starting the online form. Uploads that are unreadable are the most common reason a claim is sent back for resubmission rather than rejected outright, which costs weeks at a point in a pregnancy where timing matters.

How much is paid and at what stage?

The maternity benefit is deliberately split so that money arrives twice during the pregnancy rather than once at the end.

A registered woman worker therefore receives Rs 7,000 in total per qualifying delivery. The Rs 3,000 paternity amount is a separate entitlement attaching to a registered male worker, paid once after the child is born.

Because the first instalment is tied to the third month, the practical advice is to complete board registration before or early in a pregnancy rather than after. A worker who registers in the sixth month has already lost the window for the Rs 4,200 instalment.

How do I check my application status?

1. Return to the Chhattisgarh Labour Department portal and open the Unorganised Workers State Social Security Board section.
2. Choose the option to view an existing application rather than file a new one, and enter your district and registration number.
3. The dashboard against your registration shows the schemes you have applied for and the stage each application has reached.
4. Follow up in person at the district labour office if an application shows no movement, taking your registration card and the application reference.

Why claims get rejected, and how to avoid it

• Registration not valid at the time of claim. The most common failure. Confirm that your board registration is live before filing.
• Claim filed at the wrong pregnancy stage. The Rs 4,200 instalment belongs to the third month and the Rs 2,800 instalment to the eighth month. Filing outside the window puts the instalment at risk.
• Third child. The two-child limit is absolute under this scheme.
• Name or Aadhaar mismatch between the registration card, the Aadhaar card and the bank account. Align all three before applying.
• Bank account not in the worker's own name, or dormant. The payment is made to the registered worker, not to a relative's account.
• Unreadable document uploads. Re-scan and re-upload rather than leaving the application pending.

Grievance redressal and help

• First step — the district labour office of the Chhattisgarh Labour Department for your district, which handles board registrations and scheme claims locally.
• Portal level, the Chhattisgarh Labour Department portal at shramevjayate.cg.gov.in carries a Contact Us section listing office addresses for the Labour Commissioner's organisation. The department's scheme listings also give cglabour.nic.in as the official scheme address.
• Board level, the Chhattisgarh Unorganised Workers State Social Security Board, which administers this and the other unorganised worker schemes.

Both the board registration and the scheme application are free. No middleman is entitled to charge a contract worker, domestic worker or hamal for filing a Prasuti Sahayta claim or for getting a registration card issued.