Padmashri Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad Sabalikaran and Swabhiman Yojana

What is the Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad Sabalikaran and Swabhiman Yojana?

Padmashri Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad Sabalikaran and Swabhiman Yojana is a Maharashtra land distribution scheme run by the Social Justice & Special Assistance Department. The scheme, often written in Marathi as Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad Sabalikaran va Swabhiman Yojana, buys agricultural land in the open market and hands it over to landless agricultural labourer families from Scheduled Castes and Nav-Buddha communities living below the poverty line.

The scheme is named after Padmashri Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad, a leader of the landless labourers' movement in Maharashtra, and its purpose is exactly that movement's demand; to turn a landless labourer into a landholder rather than to give one more cash subsidy.

According to the Social Justice & Special Assistance Department, a selected family receives 4 acres of dry (jirayat) land or 2 acres of irrigated (bagayat) land. Government Resolution No. Jamin-2015/Pra.Kra.64/AJAK dated 14 August 2018 placed the scheme on a 100 percent government grant and set purchase price ceilings of Rs 5 lakh per acre for dry land and Rs 8 lakh per acre for irrigated land. Before that resolution the scheme worked on a 50 percent subsidy plus 50 percent loan pattern, which is why older write-ups still describe a loan component that no longer exists.

How the purchase actually works

Beneficiaries do not receive cash to go and buy a field. The district social welfare machinery identifies land that is available for sale, negotiates with the landowner, and executes the purchase. District social welfare offices describe a graded negotiation: the offer starts at the prevailing market rate and can be raised in steps up to double the market rate, subject always to the Rs 5 lakh and Rs 8 lakh per acre ceilings. The land is then registered for the beneficiary family, and district offices register it in the joint names of husband and wife, or in the woman's own name where the beneficiary is a widow or deserted woman.

Who is eligible for the Sabalikaran and Swabhiman Yojana?

You can be selected if:

• You belong to the Scheduled Caste or Nav-Buddha (Neo-Buddhist) category and hold a caste certificate from a Maharashtra competent authority.
• Your family is landless, neither you nor your spouse owns agricultural land, certified by the Talathi or Tehsildar.
• Your family lives below the poverty line and works as agricultural labour.
• You are aged between 18 and 60 years.
• You are a permanent resident of Maharashtra.

Priority order. District social welfare offices state that preference goes first to deserted women (parityakta) who are landless agricultural labourers, then to widows, and then to persons who are victims under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. A general landless applicant is considered after these groups.

You cannot apply if:

• Your family already owns agricultural land, in any size. The scheme is restricted to the landless and land ownership in the spouse's name also disqualifies.
• You do not belong to the SC or Nav-Buddha category.
• Your family is above the poverty line.
• You are below 18 or above 60 years of age.
• You are not a permanent resident of Maharashtra.

A common misunderstanding is worth stating plainly: this is not a scheme that gives money to buy land yourself, and it is not a scheme for small farmers who want more land. Any existing agricultural holding makes the family ineligible.

What documents are required?

Carry originals along with one self-attested copy set. District offices also ask for passport-size photographs of the applicant and spouse for the case file.

How to apply for the Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad Yojana

1. Watch for the district notice. Applications are invited by the district social welfare office when land purchase funds are allotted for the year, so check notices at the Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare office, the Zilla Parishad Social Welfare Department and the Collectorate.
2. Collect the prescribed application form from the office of the Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare in your district.
3. Obtain the certificates first. The caste certificate, the landlessness certificate from the Talathi or Tehsildar, the BPL proof and the income certificate. The landlessness certificate is the one that takes the longest, so start with it.
4. Fill and submit the application at the office of the Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare, with self-attested copies of every document, and collect the acknowledgement.
5. Cooperate with the field verification. The Talathi and the social welfare inspector verify landlessness, caste and BPL status on the ground.
6. Await the district-level committee decision. The committee chaired by the District Collector approves the beneficiary list and the land to be purchased.
7. Complete the registration formalities when land is identified — attend the sub-registrar office for execution of the sale deed and ensure the 7/12 extract is mutated into the family's name.

What are the conditions attached to the land?

Land handed over under Karmaveer Dadasaheb Gaikwad Sabalikaran and Swabhiman Yojana is given so that the family can farm it. The scheme is not a property transfer for resale, and the land carries transfer restrictions recorded against it, so a beneficiary cannot simply sell it on. Beneficiaries are expected to cultivate the land themselves, and district offices link beneficiaries to agriculture department schemes for wells, pump sets and inputs so that the land becomes productive rather than lying fallow.

Before the sale deed is executed, ask the district Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare for the exact conditions that will be endorsed on your 7/12 extract, and keep a copy of the sanction order together with the registered deed. Both documents are needed later for any agriculture scheme application.

How to check your application status

1. Visit the office of the Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare in your district with the acknowledgement receipt.
2. Ask whether your file cleared Talathi verification of landlessness and caste and BPL scrutiny, which is where most files stall.
3. Ask whether your name has gone to the district-level committee chaired by the Collector and, if approved, whether land has been identified against your case.
4. After sanction, verify the 7/12 extract mutation at the Talathi office to confirm the land is recorded in your family's name.

Why applications get rejected

• Land found in the applicant's or spouse's name during Talathi verification.
• Caste certificate not from a Maharashtra competent authority, or a category outside SC and Nav-Buddha.
• BPL status not established, most often because the name is missing from the BPL list and the income certificate does not support the claim.
• Age outside the 18 to 60 band on the date of application.
• No suitable land available for purchase within the price ceilings in the taluka. This is not a rejection of the applicant, but it does hold up the case, and the file is carried forward to the next round.
• Incomplete file, a missing landlessness certificate or marital status document is the most common paperwork failure.

If your file is rejected, ask for the reason in writing and re-apply in the next round with the specific defect corrected.

Where to raise a grievance

• Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare in your district. The first and main authority for this scheme.
• Regional Deputy Commissioner, Social Welfare for the division.
• District Collector, who chairs the district-level selection committee.
• Commissioner, Social Welfare, Maharashtra State, Pune, the head of the social welfare directorate.
• Social Justice & Special Assistance Department, Government of Maharashtra, through the contact page on sjsa.maharashtra.gov.in.

There is no fee to apply. No agent can secure an allotment of land under this scheme, and any demand for money in exchange for selection should be reported to the Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare.