Tool Assistance Scheme for Pottery Artisans

What is the Tool Assistance Scheme for Pottery Artisans?

Tool Assistance Scheme for Pottery Artisans is a Gujarat state scheme run by the Gujarat Matikam Kalakari and Rural Technology Institute (GMKRTI), an institute under the Industries and Mines Department based near the Vishwakarma Temple in Sector 12, Gandhinagar. GMKRTI is the state body responsible for matikam; clay craft, and for the welfare and modernisation of Gujarat's potter communities.

According to the GMKRTI scheme page, the scheme supplies a working potter with one of three modern tools at a 75% government subsidy, with the artisan paying the remaining 25%. The tools covered are a foot-operated potter's wheel, an electric potter's wheel and an electric pug mill. The scheme is often referred to locally as the toolkit assistance scheme for kumbhars, and appears on the national myScheme portal as "Tool Assistance Scheme for Pottery Artisans".

Why the scheme exists

• A hand-turned or foot-turned wheel limits how many pieces a potter can throw in a day, which caps household income directly.
• Kneading clay by foot and hand is the single most physically punishing part of the trade; an electric pug mill removes it.
• Traditional potter families in Gujarat frequently cannot fund a one-time capital purchase of a powered wheel out of daily earnings.

The design of the benefit follows from that. Because the aim is to put a working machine in a working workshop, the assistance is given in kind; GMKRTI supplies the tool. No cash is credited to the artisan's account.

Who is eligible for the pottery tool assistance scheme?

You can get the tool if:

• You are 18 to 50 years old on the date of application.
• You are a resident of Gujarat.
• You are actively engaged in pottery work. GMKRTI treats this as the core test, and it is the one most closely checked at the field verification stage.
• You belong to the Prajapati or Kumbhar community or are otherwise a working matikam artisan associated with the pottery trade.
• You are able to pay the 25% beneficiary contribution after selection.

GMKRTI records no educational qualification for this scheme, an illiterate artisan is fully eligible, and its published eligibility table specifies no income ceiling.

You cannot apply if:

• You are below 18 or above 50 years of age.
• You do not actually practise pottery. Traders, retailers and wholesalers who buy finished pottery for resale are not eligible.
• You live outside Gujarat.
• Another member of your family has already received a tool under the scheme. The benefit runs one per family.
• You have already bought the wheel or pug mill yourself and are looking for reimbursement. The scheme has no reimbursement route.

How much benefit does the scheme give?

The benefit is a fixed proportion, not a fixed rupee figure. GMKRTI pays 75% of the approved cost of the tool it supplies and the artisan pays 25%. The approved cost depends on which of the three tools is sanctioned and on the rate at which GMKRTI procures it in that financial year, so the rupee value of the artisan's 25% share is confirmed to you in the selection intimation rather than at the time of applying.

The practical value of the subsidy is not only the capital saved. An electric wheel raises the number of pieces a potter can throw in a working day, and an electric pug mill prepares clay of consistent moisture, which cuts breakage during drying and firing.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the pottery tool assistance scheme

1. Open the e-Kutir portal at e-kutir.gujarat.gov.in, the Cottage and Rural Industries portal of the Government of Gujarat, and choose New Citizen Registration if you do not already have an account.
2. Log in and complete your profile — name, Aadhaar number, address, caste, bank account and mobile number. An incomplete profile blocks the application form from opening.
3. Select the toolkit assistance scheme for potters from the scheme list and fill in the application, stating which tool you want; foot-operated wheel, electric wheel or electric pug mill.
4. Upload the scanned documents, then submit and save or print the acknowledgement carrying your application number.
5. Wait for field verification. A GMKRTI or district cottage industries officer checks that you are a working potter and that the workshop exists.
6. On selection, pay your 25% contribution by demand draft to the GMKRTI office in Gandhinagar as instructed in the selection letter.
7. Collect the tool, or take delivery at the distribution camp, and sign the receipt acknowledgement.

How to apply offline

1. Visit the district office of the Cottage and Rural Industries department or the GMKRTI office at Sector 12, Gandhinagar, with your documents.
2. Ask the officer to register you on e-Kutir and file the application, or use a Common Service Centre to complete the online form for you.
3. Keep the printed acknowledgement with the application number, which is what you quote for every follow-up.

How do I check my application status?

Log in to e-kutir.gujarat.gov.in with the same credentials used for the application and open your application list. The status moves from submitted, to verification, to sanctioned or rejected. Where the portal shows nothing for a long period, call GMKRTI on 079-23251681 or write to dir-gmkrti@gujarat.gov.in quoting the application number.

Why applications get rejected

• No proof of working in pottery. This is the most common rejection reason. A caste certificate alone does not establish that you practise the trade.
• Age outside 18 to 50 on the date of application.
• A tool already given to the same family in an earlier year.
• Profile and document mismatch on e-Kutir. A name spelled differently on Aadhaar and on the bank passbook stalls verification.
• Annual physical target exhausted. GMKRTI works to a sanctioned number of units each financial year; applications beyond it wait for the next year rather than being rejected on merit.
• Failure to pay the 25% contribution within the time given in the selection letter, which causes the sanction to lapse.

When can I apply?

The scheme runs through the year on e-Kutir against an annual physical target, and GMKRTI does not publish a single closing date. Applying early in the financial year, soon after April, improves the chance of falling inside that year's target rather than being carried forward.

Where do I complain if something goes wrong?

• GMKRTI, Gandhinagar: near Vishwakarma Temple, Sector 12, Gandhinagar. Phone 079-23251681, email dir-gmkrti@gujarat.gov.in.
• District Cottage and Rural Industries office for verification delays and distribution problems in your district.
• e-Kutir helpdesk through the Contact Us page of e-kutir.gujarat.gov.in for portal and login problems.

No agent or middleman can charge a fee to get your name onto the beneficiary list. The only money a genuine beneficiary pays is the 25% contribution, and it is paid by demand draft to GMKRTI after a written selection intimation, never in cash to an individual.

Related GMKRTI schemes for potters

GMKRTI also runs a scheme providing an energy-efficient kiln to a group of potter families at 100% subsidy, a clay idol promotion scheme, and short-term skill training courses in pottery skill, mud work, kulhad making and clay jewellery. A potter who has already taken a tool under this scheme can still be considered under those, since the eligibility runs separately for each.