Handloom Weavers' Welfare Scheme in Karnataka (insurance and scholarship for weavers)

What is the Handloom Weavers' Welfare Scheme?

The Handloom Weavers' Welfare component, earlier known as the Handloom Weavers' Comprehensive Welfare Scheme (HWCWS); is the social security package that covers handloom and silk weavers in Karnataka. It runs under the National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP) of the Office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, and the scheme's own guidelines name the State Directorate of Handlooms and its subordinate offices in the field as the nodal agencies for implementation. In Karnataka that is the Directorate of Handlooms and Textiles.

The scheme's stated objective is to provide a universal and affordable social security and need-based financial assistance to handloom weavers and workers across the country. Karnataka matters here disproportionately, because the state carries both a cotton handloom tradition and the silk weaving clusters around Mysuru, Molakalmuru, Ilkal and Bengaluru, weavers in all of them are handloom weavers or handloom workers for the purposes of this scheme.

Three things are on offer, and they are separate claims:

1. Life, accidental and disability insurance under PMJJBY, PMSBY and the converged Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana.
2. A scholarship of up to Rs 2 lakh a year per child for study at textiles institutions.
3. Rs 8,000 a month for awardee weavers above 60 in indigent circumstances.

How much does each component pay?

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), life cover for death due to any reason. Rs 2 lakh is payable on the beneficiary's death from any cause, for the one-year coverage period from 1 June to 31 May. Eligible age band: 18 to 50 years. Annual premium Rs 436, shared Rs 198 by the Government of India and Rs 238 by the state government or the beneficiary.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), accidental cover.

The entire annual premium of Rs 20 is borne by the Government of India.

Converged Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana (Converged MGBBY): life and accident cover for a closed group of handloom weavers and workers.

Annual premium Rs 470, split Rs 290 central and Rs 180 state or beneficiary.

Scholarship. Up to Rs 2 lakh per annum per child, for up to two children, for study in three or four year Diploma, Undergraduate or Postgraduate courses at Central or State government recognised and funded textiles institutions. The award pays tuition fee, admission fee, examination fee and other annual fees charged by the institution, plus Rs 5,000 a month as stipend, subject to the Rs 2 lakh cap or actuals, whichever is less.

Awardee support. Rs 8,000 per month to Padma, Sant Kabir, National or State awardee handloom weavers and workers above 60 years of age, in indigent circumstances, with annual income below Rs 1 lakh, certified by the competent authority of the state government. Assistance may be given as a monthly allowance, a lump-sum grant, or both, and continues year to year during the weaver's lifetime subject to an attested income certificate each year.

Who is eligible, and who is not?

You are eligible if:

• You are a handloom weaver or handloom worker — the scheme covers all handloom weavers and workers in the age group of 18 to 70 years.
• You are aged 18 to 50 for PMJJBY and for fresh converged MGBBY enrolment.
• You are a child of a handloom weaver or worker admitted to a recognised textiles institution, for the scholarship, up to two children per weaver.
• You are an awardee weaver above 60 with annual income below Rs 1 lakh, for the Rs 8,000 monthly support.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You are outside the 18 to 70 age band for the scheme as a whole.
• You are aged 51 to 59 and were not already enrolled under MGBBY on 31 May 2017. The guidelines state plainly that no new enrolment of weavers in the 51 to 59 age group will be done under the converged MGBBY, so that group shrinks every year.
• You are not a handloom weaver or handloom worker. Powerloom operatives and traders are outside the scheme.
• You are already receiving similar financial assistance from another source. Both the scholarship and the awardee support require an undertaking of non-receipt of similar assistance.
• You are an awardee weaver but your annual income is Rs 1 lakh or above, or you are 60 or younger.
• Your child's course is not at a Central or State government recognised and funded textiles institution, or is not a three or four year Diploma, UG or PG course.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Handloom Weavers' Welfare Scheme

1. Get or renew your weaver Pehchan card through the Karnataka Directorate of Handlooms field office in your cluster. It is the identity document the scheme works off.
2. Fill the enrolment form prescribed by the bank concerned or LIC and submit it to the nodal agency, which is the State Directorate of Handlooms or its field office.
3. Deposit your share of the premium in the nodal agency's bank account. If you cannot contribute your share, the state government may do so on your behalf, say so rather than dropping out.
4. Collect your Certificate of Insurance, which the bank or LIC issues once the enrolment is processed.
5. For the scholarship, submit the admission letter, tuition fee receipt, Pehchan card, bank details and photograph in the prescribed Annexure-F3 format to the Weavers' Service Centre, which verifies against originals and forwards it with a recommendation to the zonal office.
6. For awardee support, submit the application with your address, weaver details, Aadhaar, bank details, award certificate, address proof, family details and date of birth certificate to the Weavers' Service Centre in Annexure-F2 format.
7. Renew every year. The insurance cover runs from 1 June to 31 May and is renewable annually on payment of premium; the scholarship needs the previous year's mark sheet and next-year admission proof; awardee support needs a fresh attested income certificate.

How claims and payments are settled

Funds for scholarships are released to the concerned zonal office for onward transmission directly into the bank account of the weaver or the child by Direct Benefit Transfer. Awardee assistance is released to the Weavers' Service Centre for onward DBT within 15 days of the Centre receiving the funds. The first-year scholarship is paid after the ward's admission; later years are paid on submission of the mark sheet and proof of admission to the next academic session.

For an insurance claim, the nodal agency acts for and on behalf of the insured members in all matters relating to the insurance cover, and the claimant provides the insurance certificate and, where relevant, the disability certificate.

Why claims fail, and how to fix them

• Premium not paid before the policy year, so cover for 1 June to 31 May never started. Enrol early through the nodal agency.
• Age band mismatch, a 55-year-old fresh applicant cannot be added to the converged MGBBY.
• No Pehchan card, so the weaver cannot be verified as a handloom weaver.
• Institution not recognised or not government-funded, which fails the scholarship condition.
• More than two children claimed by the same weaver.
• Income certificate above Rs 1 lakh for awardee support.
• Similar assistance drawn elsewhere without disclosure, which the undertaking is designed to catch.

Help and where to go

• Directorate of Handlooms and Textiles, Government of Karnataka. The nodal agency named in the scheme guidelines, and the office to approach first.
• Weavers' Service Centre; verifies and forwards scholarship and awardee claims.
• Office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, handlooms.gov.in, which publishes the NHDP guidelines this scheme sits inside.
• Apex and primary handloom weavers' co-operative societies and the state handloom corporation, which the guidelines require to be actively associated in implementation and which run enrolment camps and chaupals with the nodal agency.

Enrolment camps are held in weaving pockets, and yarn depots are used as focal points for distributing and collecting enrolment forms. If you have not been approached, do not wait for a camp, go to the Directorate's field office.

How to check your application status

The Handloom Weavers' Welfare Scheme is administered offline through the Karnataka Directorate of Handlooms and Textiles and the Weavers' Service Centre, so there is no online tracking portal or application-ID lookup for this scheme. To check where your enrolment, scholarship or awardee-support claim stands, follow up directly with the office that took your paperwork.

1. For insurance enrolment (PMJJBY, PMSBY, converged MGBBY), contact the nodal agency, the State Directorate of Handlooms field office where you submitted the bank or LIC enrolment form and deposited your premium share. Ask whether your Certificate of Insurance has been issued; that certificate is the proof that your cover is active for the 1 June to 31 May policy year. If you paid your premium but have not received the certificate, raise this with the same office rather than assuming the enrolment went through.

2. For a scholarship claim, follow up with the Weavers' Service Centre where you filed the Annexure-F3 form. The Centre verifies the documents against originals and forwards the claim with a recommendation to the zonal office, so ask the Centre whether your file has moved to the zonal office yet, and if it has, ask the zonal office directly whether the Direct Benefit Transfer has been processed. Keep the acknowledgement or receipt you were given when you submitted the form, since the Centre and zonal office use it to trace your file.

3. For awardee support (the Rs 8,000 a month payment), check with the Weavers' Service Centre where the Annexure-F2 application was filed. Since this assistance is meant to reach the Centre for onward transfer within 15 days of the Centre receiving funds, a delay beyond that window is worth flagging in person or by phone rather than waiting indefinitely, particularly because the payment depends on a fresh income certificate each year, so also confirm your certificate for the current year has been accepted.

4. If the local office cannot resolve the query, escalate to the Directorate of Handlooms and Textiles, Government of Karnataka, which is the state nodal agency named in the scheme guidelines, or write to the Office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms at handlooms.gov.in, which issues the National Handloom Development Programme guidelines this scheme operates under. Carry your weaver Pehchan card and any acknowledgement slips each time you follow up, since the scheme has no centralised application number and offices rely on these documents to locate your case.