Free Bicycle Distribution Scheme

What is the Free Bicycle Distribution Scheme?

Free Bicycle Distribution Scheme is a Jharkhand state programme under which school students are given a bicycle to travel between home and school. The School Education and Literacy Department, Government of Jharkhand, runs the scheme, with the Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, Minority and Backward Class Welfare Department involved for students counted under those categories. In everyday speech the scheme is known as the cycle vitaran yojana.

The reason the state spends on bicycles is a practical one rather than a symbolic one. Jharkhand is a largely rural state where the upper primary school is often in the child's own village but the high school is not. When a girl in Class 8 finishes at a village school and the nearest secondary school is five or six kilometres away, the family's decision is frequently to stop her education rather than let her walk. A bicycle changes that arithmetic at a very low cost per student, which is why states across eastern India adopted the idea and why Jharkhand has continued it across successive governments.

How the scheme works in outline

• Bicycles are distributed to students of government and government-aided schools in all 24 districts.
• Girls and students of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Backward Class and minority communities are the priority group.
• The school itself prepares the eligible list from its enrolment register.
• Distribution is organised in rounds during the academic session, usually at a school or block-level function.

Who is eligible for the free bicycle?

A student can be considered if:

• The student is enrolled in a government or government-aided school in Jharkhand.
• The student is in a class covered by the current year's government order; upper primary and secondary classes are the usual target group.
• The student is a resident of Jharkhand.
• The student's name, Aadhaar and category are correctly recorded in the school register and in the education department's student database.

A student is not eligible if:

• The student is enrolled in a private unaided school, which is outside the scheme.
• The student is in a class not covered by the current year's order.
• The student has already received a bicycle under the scheme. One student receives one bicycle, and duplicate entries across schools are removed at the data stage.
• The student is not a resident of Jharkhand, or has left the school and not transferred properly, which leaves the record without a live enrolment.

An important caution: the exact classes covered, the category-wise coverage and whether the benefit is given as a physical cycle or as a bank transfer are fixed each year by a departmental order, and they have changed from year to year. This guide therefore does not state a class number or a rupee figure for the current session, because no such figure is published in a stable place. Ask the school headmaster or the District Education Officer for the current session's order.

What documents are needed?

Parents rarely need to submit anything at all if the school records are already correct. Most of the trouble arises from records that are not correct. A name spelt differently in Aadhaar and the register, an Aadhaar number entered with a wrong digit, or a category left blank.

How to apply for the Free Bicycle Distribution Scheme

1. Confirm that the student is enrolled in a government or government-aided school in Jharkhand and that the enrolment is live in the current session.
2. Check the school register entry with the class teacher, the student's name spelling, date of birth, category and Aadhaar number. This is the single step that decides whether the student appears on the final list.
3. Give the school a copy of Aadhaar, and a caste certificate if the student is to be counted under a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Backward Class category.
4. Ask the headmaster whether the current session's order covers your child's class, and when the list is due to be sent to the block.
5. Verify the name in the displayed list. Schools generally display or read out the list of selected students before distribution; raise any omission at that point, not after the function.
6. Attend the distribution on the date announced by the school, with the student present, and collect the bicycle against signature. Where the state transfers the amount instead, give the school the student's bank account number and IFSC code and check the credit afterwards.

There is no separate personal application form at a block or district office for this scheme. Anyone offering to "get your name added" for a fee is misrepresenting the process.

How is the list prepared and verified?

The chain runs upward, not downward. The school prepares the eligible list from its own register; the Block Education Extension Officer consolidates block-level lists; the District Education Officer and the district administration approve and arrange the distribution; and the School Education and Literacy Department with the Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC) sets the norms and handles the state-level data.

The department's student data systems — including eVidya Vahini, its integrated management platform, and the Out of School Children tracking programme; are what allow duplicates to be caught and out-of-school children to be identified. A student whose Aadhaar is wrongly entered can be silently dropped by exactly these checks, which is why the register entry matters so much.

Why do students get left out, and what to do

• Name or Aadhaar mismatch between the school register and the Aadhaar card. Correct it with the school; this is the most common cause by a distance.
• Category left blank in the register, so the student is not counted in the priority group. Submit the caste certificate to the school.
• Class not covered in the current session's order. Nothing can be done in that year; check again in the following session.
• Transfer between schools mid-session, leaving the record split. Ask the new school to complete the transfer entry.
• Already recorded as a past beneficiary, correctly or incorrectly. If it is a wrong entry, ask the headmaster to raise it with the block office in writing.
• Bank account not linked where the amount is transferred instead of a cycle. Give the school the correct account number and IFSC.

Escalate in order: school headmaster, then the Block Education Extension Officer, then the District Education Officer. A written application with the student's name, class, school code and Aadhaar number gets a far better result than a verbal complaint.

Where do I get help?

• School headmaster, the first and usually the only contact needed.
• Block Education Extension Officer at your block office.
• District Education Officer in your district headquarters.
• School Education and Literacy Department, MDI Bhavan, Ground Floor, Dhurwa, Ranchi, phone 0651-2400797.
• Jharkhand Education Project Council (JEPC), Ranchi, for scheme implementation queries.
• Welfare Department, Project Bhawan, Dhurwa, Ranchi-834004, phone 0651-2400215 and 0651-2446282, for students counted under Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, minority and Backward Class categories, and the e-Kalyan portal used for that department's student schemes.

The bicycle is free. No fee is payable to the school, to a supplier or to any agent, and any demand for money in exchange for inclusion in the list should be reported in writing to the District Education Officer.