Vishesh Katan, Vankari & Vanat Sahay (Special Spinning and Weaving Assistance Scheme)

What is Vishesh Katan, Vankari and Vanat Sahay?

Vishesh Katan, Vankari and Vanat Sahay is a Gujarat state assistance scheme that adds a fixed rupee amount to the wage a khadi spinner or handloom weaver earns for each unit of work completed. The scheme is run by the Gujarat Rajya Khadi Gramodyog Board, the state khadi and village industries board that works under the Commissionerate of Cottage and Rural Industries in the Industries and Mines Department, Government of Gujarat.

The scheme's Gujarati name is often written as Vishesh Kantan, Vankari ane Vanat Sahay, and readers also encounter it simply as the special spinning and weaving assistance scheme. Whatever the transliteration, the mechanism is the same: the artisan is paid the regular khadi wage by the institution, and the state adds a further per-hank or per-square-metre amount on top.

According to the Gujarat Rajya Khadi Gramodyog Board, the purpose is to make hand spinning and handloom weaving pay enough to be worth continuing. Khadi production is slow, labour-intensive work, and the wage per hank of yarn or per metre of cloth is small. A per-unit state top-up raises the effective earning without changing the price of the finished khadi, which is what keeps village spinners and weavers in the trade.

Key features

• The assistance is paid per unit of production, not as a lump sum grant.
• It is paid over and above the fixed spinning wage or weaving charge.
• Rates are higher for Scheduled Tribe artisans than for General and Scheduled Caste artisans.
• Weavers additionally receive a separate weaving equipment assistance of Rs 1 per square metre.
• The money is state government money, paid in addition to any central khadi sector support the institution receives.

How much does the scheme pay?

The Gujarat Rajya Khadi Gramodyog Board publishes the following rates for the special spinning and weaving assistance.

Two things follow from this table that artisans routinely get wrong. First, the rate is not the total earning for the work, it is only the state's addition to the wage the khadi institution already pays. Second, a weaver in a Scheduled Tribe household earning the Rs 4 rate also gets the Rs 1 equipment assistance, so the combined state addition works out to Rs 5 per square metre of cloth woven.

Because the payment is per unit, actual monthly earnings depend entirely on output. A weaver who produces 100 square metres of khadi in a month at the Rs 3 plus Rs 1 rate receives Rs 400 in state assistance for that month, in addition to the institution's weaving charge for the same cloth.

Who is eligible for the special spinning and weaving assistance?

You can receive the assistance if:

• You are a hand spinner or handloom weaver in the khadi sector in Gujarat.
• You are enrolled with a registered khadi institution, khadi centre or khadi gramodyog sangh recognised by the Gujarat Rajya Khadi Gramodyog Board.
• Your production of hanks or of woven cloth is recorded by that institution in its production and wage register.
• You have a bank account in your own name to receive the payment.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You are not attached to any registered khadi institution. The assistance is calculated from institutional production records, so there is no route for an unaffiliated individual to claim it.
• You work on a power loom rather than a handloom, or in a textile mill. The scheme covers hand spinning and handloom weaving only.
• You are a trader, agent or shopkeeper dealing in khadi rather than a person producing yarn or cloth.
• You are claiming for production you did not do. Assistance is paid on verified output; inflated production entries are the main reason a claim is cut back at the Board's audit stage.

Being Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste or General does not decide eligibility. It only decides which rate applies. A General category weaver is fully eligible, at the Rs 3 plus Rs 1 rate rather than the Rs 4 plus Rs 1 rate.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Vishesh Katan, Vankari and Vanat Sahay

Vishesh Katan, Vankari and Vanat Sahay has no individual online application form. The claim is raised by the khadi institution on behalf of its artisans. The practical steps for a spinner or weaver are these.

1. Enrol with a registered khadi institution or khadi centre. The Gujarat Rajya Khadi Gramodyog Board publishes a district-wise list of khadi centres with contact persons and phone numbers at khadigujarat.in. Choose the centre nearest to your village or town.
2. Complete the enrolment formalities at the institution with your Aadhaar card, bank passbook and, if you belong to a Scheduled Tribe, your caste certificate. Ask for an artisan identity card and confirm that your name and bank details are entered correctly in the institution's register.
3. Take the spinning or weaving work issued by the institution and return the finished hanks or cloth. Make sure each delivery is entered in the production register and that you get a wage slip or receipt showing the quantity.
4. Check the quantity recorded against your own count before signing. The state assistance is computed from this figure, so an under-recorded delivery permanently reduces the top-up for that period.
5. Collect the assistance with the wage. The institution consolidates artisan production and claims the state assistance from the Gujarat Rajya Khadi Gramodyog Board, then disburses it to the artisan's bank account along with the wage.

How to check whether the assistance was paid

1. Compare the credit in your bank passbook against the wage slip for the same period. The credit should exceed the fixed wage by the applicable per-hank or per-square-metre rate.
2. Ask the institution's manager for the production statement for the period, which shows hanks or square metres attributed to you.
3. If the amounts do not match, raise it with the institution first, since most gaps are recording errors at that level rather than at the Board.
4. If the institution does not resolve it, contact the Gujarat Rajya Khadi Gramodyog Board office in Gandhinagar on 079-23220324, 079-23220325 or 079-23220326, or write to khadiboard@gmail.com.

Why claims get reduced or rejected

• Production not entered in the institution's register on the day of delivery, which is the single most common cause of a short payment.
• Bank account not active or not in the artisan's own name, so the credit fails and has to be reissued.
• Caste certificate not on file, which means the artisan is paid the General and Scheduled Caste rate instead of the higher Scheduled Tribe rate.
• Duplicate enrolment at two institutions for the same production period.
• Institution's claim filed late, which delays the whole batch rather than a single artisan.

Where to raise a grievance

• Gujarat Rajya Khadi Gramodyog Board, Handloom Technology Institute building, near Mahatma Mandir, Sector 13, Gandhinagar.
• Phone: 079-23220324, 079-23220325 or 079-23220326.
• Email: khadiboard@gmail.com.
• District khadi centre contact list: published as a PDF on khadigujarat.in, with the contact person and phone number for each institution.

No fee is payable to any person to be enrolled as a khadi artisan or to have the special assistance released. If someone asks for a cut of the wage or the top-up, report it to the Board office in Gandhinagar.