Ambedkar Puraskar Yojana

What is Ambedkar Puraskar Yojana?

Ambedkar Puraskar Yojana is a state award conferred by the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Government of Rajasthan, in the memory of Dr B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956). Ambedkar Puraskar Yojana recognises individuals, social workers and institutions whose work has made a substantial difference to the lives of Scheduled Caste communities in Rajasthan.

The award sits in a different category from most schemes on this site. Ambedkar Puraskar Yojana is not a welfare benefit. Nobody qualifies for it by income, caste certificate, land holding or family status. It is a public honour, decided on the record of what a person or organisation has done, and it carries a citation and certificate along with a cash component announced by the department for the award year.

The kinds of work the award is aimed at are the ones that rarely produce a salary or a title: teachers who kept first-generation learners in school, social workers who fought caste discrimination in a village, lawyers who ran free legal aid on atrocity cases, organisations that built hostels or coaching for Scheduled Caste students, and reformers who worked against untouchability practices.

Who is considered for the Ambedkar Puraskar?

A nominee can be considered if:

• The nominee is an individual or a registered institution based in Rajasthan.
• There is a documented record of sustained work for the welfare, education, dignity or economic advancement of Scheduled Caste communities.
• The work has been done in Rajasthan and can be verified; by press coverage, institutional letters, reports, or the testimony of the community served.
• The nomination reaches the department in the format and within the window it announces for that award year.

A nominee is not eligible where:

• The claim rests on holding a position rather than on work done. Occupying an office, being a member of a committee, or belonging to the community is not by itself a qualification.
• The work cannot be substantiated with evidence. Selection committees work from the record placed before them, and an unsupported claim does not survive scrutiny.
• The nominee or institution is outside Rajasthan, since this is a state award for work in the state.
• The nomination is filed as a request for financial assistance. An application for money is not a nomination and is not treated as one.

Being from the Scheduled Caste community is not a requirement to be nominated. The award is for work done for the community, and people from any background who have done that work can be nominated.

How to apply for or nominate someone for the Ambedkar Puraskar

1. Check with the district Social Justice and Empowerment office whether nominations for the current award year have been invited. There is no permanently open window, and this is the office that holds the current circular and format.
2. Obtain the nomination format issued by the department for that year. Do not draft your own format; a nomination on the wrong proforma is routinely returned.
3. Write the record of work in detail — how many years, in which blocks or districts, how many people were reached, and what changed. Selection committees respond to specifics, not to adjectives.
4. Attach the supporting evidence; press cuttings, letters from schools, panchayats or institutions, photographs, reports, and any earlier recognition. For an institution, attach the registration certificate and audited accounts.
5. Attach identity and residence documents for the nominee, and the institution's registration papers where applicable.
6. Submit the nomination to the district Social Justice and Empowerment officer, who forwards it with the district's remarks to the department in Jaipur.
7. Keep the acknowledgement and follow up with the district office, since the department communicates the outcome through the district.

How is the award decided and announced?

Nominations forwarded by districts are placed before a selection committee constituted by the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, which examines the record of work and recommends the awardees. The department then announces the selection and organises a ceremony at which the citation, certificate and cash component are presented.

Because the award is decided on merit within a limited number of awards, a strong nomination that is not selected in one year is not a finding against the nominee's work. Where nominations are invited again, the same nominee can be put forward with an updated record.

Where to check, ask or complain

• District Social Justice and Empowerment officer, the single most useful contact, for the current nomination circular, the format, and the outcome of a nomination already sent.
• Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Jaipur, for the department-level position on the award year.
• Rajasthan Sampark helpline: 181, which registers a trackable grievance if a nomination filed at the district office is not forwarded.
• Jan Soochna portal (jansoochna.rajasthan.gov.in), Rajasthan's public information platform for departmental schemes.

No fee is payable for a nomination under Ambedkar Puraskar Yojana. Nobody can charge money to "get a name recommended", and any such demand should be reported on 181.

A note on what this award is not

Readers frequently reach this page while searching for money linked to Dr Ambedkar's name, because Rajasthan runs several separate schemes that carry it. Those are distinct programmes with their own eligibility and application routes, including the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Rajasthan Dalit Adivasi Udyam Protsahan Yojana for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs, and the department's scholarship and hostel schemes for Scheduled Caste students. Ambedkar Puraskar Yojana is none of these. It confers an honour, and it does so on the strength of a documented record of service rather than on need.