Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY): Skill Development

What is PM-AJAY Skill Development?

Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY) is a centrally sponsored scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, created in 2021-22 by merging three older schemes; Special Central Assistance to the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan, Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana and Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana. In Gujarat it is implemented by the Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare under the Social Justice and Empowerment Department.

Skill Development is not a standalone scheme with its own application form. It is an activity inside PM-AJAY's second component, Grants-in-aid for district and state-level projects, which funds comprehensive livelihood projects for Scheduled Castes. According to the PM-AJAY guidelines issued in May 2023, such a project may combine three things: skill development as per Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship norms, grants for creating or acquiring livelihood assets, and related common infrastructure.

The first stated objective of PM-AJAY is to reduce poverty in Scheduled Caste communities by generating additional employment through skill development, income generating schemes and other initiatives. The scheme is implemented in 28 states and union territories, and Gujarat is one of them.

Who is eligible for PM-AJAY skill training?

You can be selected if:

• You belong to a Scheduled Caste.
• Your household income is preferably up to Rs 2.50 lakh a year. The guidelines set no fixed income limit for comprehensive livelihood projects but require priority for this band.
• You meet the entry qualification for the job role. Long-term courses are aimed at candidates educated up to class 10 or above.
• You clear the selection committee meeting held for the batch, which must include a functionary of the state government or district administration.
• You are a Scheduled Caste member of an SC-majority group, which the guidelines also treat as eligible.

You cannot apply if:

• You do not belong to a Scheduled Caste. This component is reserved and non-SC candidates are not eligible.
• You are looking for a direct cash transfer. There is no standalone individual asset distribution under PM-AJAY, and the appraisal committee is required to confirm this while clearing every project.
• You are already covered for the same skilling under PM-DAKSH. States must ensure there is no duplication and consider only beneficiaries not covered by PM-DAKSH.
• You want the same activity funded twice. Only activities that cannot be funded from another scheme under the state Scheduled Caste Sub Plan umbrella may be taken up under PM-AJAY.

What documents are required?

How to apply for PM-AJAY skill development in Gujarat

1. Watch for training batch advertisements issued by the state or district administration or by the empanelled training partner. The guidelines require mobilisation through print media, social media and other publicity before a batch is filled.
2. Contact the district social welfare officer or the Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare office at Gandhinagar to confirm which job roles are running in your district this year.
3. Submit the enrolment form at the training centre with your caste certificate, Aadhaar card, photographs and, where asked, education and income proof.
4. Attend the selection committee meeting. Selection is not first-come; a government functionary must sit on the committee, especially where the training partner is private.
5. Complete the course to 32 to 80 hours for up-skilling, 200 to 600 hours for a short-term course, about 80 hours for an entrepreneurship programme, or six months to a year for a long-term course.
6. Sit the third-party assessment at the end of the course and collect the certificate, which is aligned to the National Skill Qualification Framework.
7. Use the financial literacy and project proposal module that every course must include to approach a bank if you intend to start a self-employment venture.

For institutions and state agencies, the route is different. Districts prepare projects based on local need, the state consolidates them into a Perspective Plan and Annual Action Plan on the PM-AJAY portal, and the Project Appraisal Committee clears them. Training is executed by State Skill Development Missions, their affiliated training providers, institutes identified by the National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation, or other institutions with a proven record. Further outsourcing by an affiliated training partner is strictly prohibited.

What does a candidate actually get?

A selected candidate gets the training free of cost, since the training cost is settled with the partner against Common Cost Norms on a milestone basis, plus third-party assessment and certification. Where the livelihood project includes acquiring an asset and the beneficiary takes a loan for it, financial assistance of up to Rs 50,000 or 50 per cent of the project cost, whichever is less, is available. An increase from the earlier ceiling of Rs 10,000. Individual benefits inside a project are transferred in DBT mode by the implementing agency.

Course-wise outcome targets are written into the guidelines: up-skilling should raise self-certified earnings, short-term and long-term courses should achieve 70 per cent placement in wage or self-employment, and at least 70 per cent of entrepreneurship trainees should be self or wage employed afterwards. For long-term courses, at least 70 per cent of those employed should be in wage employment.

What are the funding rules a Gujarat applicant should know?

• At least 10 per cent of the assistance released to the state in a year must be used for skill development programmes.
• At least 15 per cent of the total grant must go to viable income generating programmes exclusively for Scheduled Caste women.
• Up to 30 per cent of the assistance in a year may be used for infrastructure development.
• At least 30 per cent participation of women candidates should be ensured in skilling batches.
• PM-AJAY is a centrally funded scheme and grants are additive to the state's own Scheduled Caste Sub Plan, so a district project must not duplicate a state SCSP activity.

How do you check status?

Candidate-level status sits with the training centre and the district social welfare office — attendance, assessment result and certificate dispatch are all tracked there. Project-level status sits on the PM-AJAY portal at pmajay.dosje.gov.in, where states file perspective plans and annual action plans and the ministry publishes sanction orders and circulars. A candidate who wants to know whether a batch has actually been sanctioned for a district can ask the district office to show the sanction order reference.

Why do candidates get left out, and what helps?

• No caste certificate on hand. Obtain the Scheduled Caste certificate from the mamlatdar before batch enrolment closes; it cannot be added later.
• Applying for a benefit that does not exist. There is no personal cash grant under PM-AJAY. Ask instead which livelihood project and job role is running in your taluka.
• Job role mismatch. Courses are chosen against the NSDC skill gap analysis for the district. A candidate insisting on a trade with no local demand is unlikely to be selected.
• Duplicate coverage. A candidate already trained under PM-DAKSH for the same job role will be excluded to avoid duplication.
• Missing the selection meeting. Enrolment alone does not confirm a seat; the committee's list does.

Where do you complain?

Raise a training-quality, attendance or certificate problem first with the training centre in writing, then with the district social welfare officer. State-level grievances go to the Director, Scheduled Caste Welfare, Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Gandhinagar, telephone +91 79 23253229. Scheme-level questions on norms: course duration, placement targets, the Rs 50,000 asset ceiling: are answered by the guidelines and circulars published on pmajay.dosje.gov.in, and the scheme also provides for a social audit once every year, which is the right forum to raise systematic problems with a district's skilling projects.