Excellent Work Award Scheme for Social Worker of De-Notified Communities

What is the Excellent Work Award Scheme for Social Worker of De-Notified Communities?

Excellent Work Award Scheme for Social Worker of De-Notified Communities is a recognition award of the Government of Madhya Pradesh that pays Rs 1,00,000 to a social worker drawn from the de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities of the state for outstanding work on those communities' social and economic upliftment. In Hindi departmental papers these groups appear as vimukt, ghumakkad and ardh-ghumakkad jatiyan.

The award is listed by the Development and Welfare Board for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities (DWBDNC), which sits under the union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in its compilation of Madhya Pradesh's state schemes for these communities. Madhya Pradesh runs thirteen schemes for de-notified and nomadic communities in that compilation; this award is scheme number twelve, and the only one in the list classed under social development rather than education, livelihood or housing.

Within the state, welfare of de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities is handled by the Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department, whose portal is bcwelfare.mp.nic.in and whose field arms are the district Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare offices.

Why does Madhya Pradesh give this award?

De-notified communities are the groups that were listed under the colonial Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 and de-notified after independence in 1952. Nomadic and semi-nomadic communities are groups whose traditional livelihoods involved seasonal or continuous movement. Both carry a long history of exclusion from land records, permanent addresses, school rolls and formal credit, which in turn makes ordinary welfare delivery hard, because so much of it is keyed to a fixed address and documentary proof.

Madhya Pradesh's package for these communities therefore mixes cash entitlements with settlement infrastructure: scholarships from Class 1 upwards, hostels, housing rent assistance, basti development for roads, drains and toilets, electrification of small settlements, self-employment margin money and examination fee reimbursement. The award recognises the people who make that package actually reach households. The community organisers, teachers, literacy workers and settlement leaders who bring children onto school rolls, get caste and residence certificates issued, and organise groups to claim benefits.

Who is eligible for this award?

A person can be considered when all of the following hold:

• The person belongs to a de-notified, nomadic or semi-nomadic community notified in Madhya Pradesh, evidenced by a caste certificate.
• The person is an original resident of Madhya Pradesh.
• The person has done demonstrable work on the all-round development, educational development, social service or economic development of these communities.
• The work can be evidenced; through years of service, area covered, numbers of people benefited, and supporting testimony or documentation.

Who is not eligible:

• Social workers from outside these communities. The eligibility recorded by DWBDNC requires the awardee to belong to a de-notified, nomadic or semi-nomadic community. A well-regarded outsider working for the same communities does not qualify for this award.
• Residents of other states, even where the work was done among Madhya Pradesh communities.
• Organisations, trusts and societies. The award as described is for an individual social worker, not an institution.
• Anyone who cannot produce a valid caste certificate for a notified community, which is itself a common and painful barrier for these groups.

How to apply for the Excellent Work Award

No online portal has been notified for this award. The route is offline and runs through the district office.

1. Get your caste and residence documents in order first. A caste certificate for a notified de-notified, nomadic or semi-nomadic community and a Madhya Pradesh domicile document are the gateway papers; without them a nomination cannot be processed at all.
2. Prepare a written account of the work. Set out the years of service, the villages or bastis covered, the number of families reached, and the concrete results — children enrolled, certificates obtained, groups formed, houses or settlements improved.
3. Attach corroborating evidence. Photographs, press cuttings, letters from a gram panchayat, school, hostel warden or a registered institution, and any earlier certificates of recognition.
4. Submit the nomination at the district Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare office, addressed to the Assistant Commissioner or District Organiser handling de-notified and nomadic community schemes. Ask for a receipt and note the inward number.
5. Follow up on the departmental notice. The district office forwards nominations to the Directorate, where selection is made. Ask the district office when the current round's nominations close.

Self-nomination and nomination by a third party. A panchayat, a school, an institution or a district official: are both used in practice for state recognition awards. If your district office prefers one route, follow that.

What documents are needed?

What is not published about this award

Being straight about the gaps matters more than filling them with guesses. The following are not available on the department's public pages or on the DWBDNC compilation, and are therefore not stated here:

• The number of awards given per year.
• A fixed nomination window or last date.
• A named selection committee or published scoring criteria.
• A dedicated helpline for this award.

Anyone considering a nomination should ask the district Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare office for the current round's circular rather than rely on secondary websites, several of which reproduce the same one-line description.

Where to get help

• Official department portal: bcwelfare.mp.nic.in, scheme lists, circulars and district office contacts for the Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department.
• District Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare office: the working point of contact for nomination forms, the current circular and submission.
• CM Helpline 181: the Madhya Pradesh government's general grievance line if a nomination is not acknowledged or acted on.
• DWBDNC, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment: dwbdnc.dosje.gov.in publishes the consolidated list of Madhya Pradesh schemes for de-notified, nomadic and semi-nomadic communities, useful for checking what else you or your community can claim.

No fee is payable for submitting a nomination. Any person asking for money to secure an award is not acting for the department.