Nav-Jeevan Yojana

What is Nav-Jeevan Yojana?

Nav-Jeevan Yojana is a rehabilitation scheme of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department, Government of Rajasthan, for communities and families whose livelihood depends on the illicit liquor trade. The scheme's stated aim is their social, educational and economic development and rehabilitation: providing alternative livelihood opportunities and resources, removing illiteracy, and giving them basic facilities.

Nav-Jeevan Yojana runs today under the Rajasthan Navjeevan Yojana Sanchalan Disha-Nirdesh 2015, circulated to all district collectors by departmental order number F.15(21)Sa.Su/Navjeevan/Sa.Nya.A.Vi/16/44764-786 dated 11 July 2016, with the concurrence of the Finance (Expenditure-2) Department's ID number 161600408 dated 5 April 2016. These 2015 guidelines are a revision of the earlier scheme and supersede eight previous departmental orders issued between March 2011 and June 2013.

Readers should note one thing plainly: Nav-Jeevan Yojana is not a rehabilitation scheme for persons rescued from commercial sex work. It is targeted at the illicit liquor trade and at 14 specific communities historically associated with it.

Who is eligible for Nav-Jeevan Yojana?

The guidelines set two eligibility routes.

You can be covered if:

• You are a person or family engaged in the manufacture, storage or sale of illicit liquor, and you have been identified as such by the District Executive Committee of your district; or
• You belong to one of the listed communities; Kanjar, Sansi, Bhat, Bhand, Nat, Rana, Dom, Dholi, Mogia (Mogya), Babariya, Bediya, Bagariya, Sirkiwala or Chaubdar.

For the education and hostel components, the child must also belong to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class or Special Backward Class categories, because those components run through the department's existing category-based scholarship and hostel schemes.

You cannot apply if:

• You belong to no listed community and have not been identified by the District Executive Committee. Identification through the annual survey is the gate into the scheme.
• Your community is not on the list and you want it added, that is not an individual application. The guidelines require the state government's approval, granted only after the population, educational, social and economic position of the caste and its involvement in illicit liquor are examined.
• You are seeking the coaching grant while already benefiting from another government coaching scheme. A student who takes the Nav-Jeevan coaching grant is not eligible for any other government coaching scheme.
• You want the interest subsidy but have not repaid principal and interest on time. The subsidy is given only to borrowers who have paid regularly and continuously each year.

What benefits does Nav-Jeevan Yojana provide?

Nav-Jeevan Yojana has five components, and the district budget is split between them in fixed proportions.

1. Survey, identification and awareness to 15 per cent of the district budget. An annual survey is done through registered voluntary organisations, using Preraks — motivators chosen from within the eligible community itself. A Prerak must have passed at least class 8 and must belong to the same basti. Awareness work includes meetings, multimedia shows and street plays, and holding up as public examples people who have left the illicit liquor trade.

2. Skill training: part of the 30 per cent training and loan subsidy share. All skill training runs through the Rajasthan Skill and Livelihood Development Corporation (RSLDC), under a state-level memorandum of understanding with the department. Three trades per district are prioritised, chosen for local market demand and earning potential. A person selected for training receives a stipend of Rs 2,000 per month for a maximum of three months in a financial year, paid through the district offices of the department.

3. Loans and interest subsidy. Trained beneficiaries get loans through the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class, Safai Karamchari and National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporations, routed through nationalised commercial and cooperative banks. The department pays an interest subsidy on the slabs below:

The subsidy is paid annually to the bank on demand and credited online to the borrower's loan account at the end of the year. The maximum subsidy is Rs 50,000 per beneficiary, and it is given only where principal and interest have been repaid on time and continuously.

4. Education to 15 per cent of the district budget. Children of identified families are brought into the department's existing scholarship schemes and admitted to departmental hostels and residential schools. Students in secondary and higher education get a coaching grant of 60 per cent of the coaching cost or Rs 15,000, whichever is less, for entry to vocational courses, available to students scoring 60 per cent or more in the secondary or senior secondary examination. Students in government institutions get a transport allowance of up to Rs 2,000 per student for ten months, paid through the institution. Where the 25 per cent free Right to Education seats are exhausted, remaining eligible students are admitted and the RTE-permissible amount is reimbursed under Nav-Jeevan Yojana.

5. Basti infrastructure and model bastis to 40 per cent of the district budget. Where at least 10 families or a group of 50 persons engaged in illicit liquor manufacture live in an identified area, and where no work has been done under any other central or state scheme, up to 40 per cent of the allotted budget may be spent on drinking water works, roads and drains, pond cleaning and water conservation, livestock drinking water, community buildings and dharamshalas, electrification, school buildings, boundary walls, toilets, extra classrooms and playgrounds, community irrigation and sub-health centre buildings.

The District Executive Committee may vary these percentages to suit local need.

How to apply for Nav-Jeevan Yojana

1. Obtain the Annexure-6 application format from the district office of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department. It is a plain prescribed format.
2. Fill it in and affix your own photograph, as the guidelines require.
3. Attach your educational qualification certificate. This is compulsory and determines which trades you can be trained in.
4. Name the specific trade you want training in. The guidelines require the application to state this.
5. Attach your Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Class certificate issued by the concerned tehsildar.
6. Submit the application to the district officer, the Deputy Director, Assistant Director or District Probation and Social Welfare Officer of the department in your district.
7. The district officer places a consolidated report of all applications received before the District Executive Committee, which meets quarterly. After the committee approves, the district officer issues the sanction.

Who runs Nav-Jeevan Yojana?

A State-Level Monitoring Committee chaired by the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment oversees the scheme. Its members include the Additional Chief Secretary or Principal Secretary for Finance and for Home, the Principal Secretaries of Medical and Health, School Education and Planning, the Managing Director of the SC/ST/OBC/ Minority Finance and Development Cooperative Corporation, the Commissioner of Excise, the Commissioner of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, the Managing Director of RSLDC, the Director of Local Bodies and the Convener of the State Level Bankers Committee. The Commissioner or Director of the department is Member Secretary. The committee meets once every six months.

At district level, a District Executive Committee chaired by the District Collector runs the scheme. Its 19 members include the Superintendent of Police, MLAs of affected areas, chairpersons of affected urban bodies, pradhans of affected panchayat samitis, the CEO of the Zila Parishad, the Chief Medical and Health Officer, the General Manager of the District Industries Centre, the Project Manager of Anuja Nigam, the District Education Officer, the District Excise Officer, the District Labour Officer, the District Employment Officer, the Lead Bank Officer, the Managing Director of the Central Cooperative Bank, two reputed voluntary organisations and two social workers from the eligible castes. The department's district officer is Member Secretary. The committee meets quarterly.

How is Nav-Jeevan Yojana funded and reviewed?

The financial source of the scheme is one per cent of the state's excise revenue. The Directorate allots the necessary budget to district officers. Continuous monitoring is done by the Director and the scheme's nodal officer at the Directorate, and by the District Collector and the CEO of the Zila Parishad at district level.

The department has the scheme evaluated every three years, either through the Directorate of Evaluation Organisation, Jaipur, or through an independent agency.

Voluntary organisations working under the scheme are paid an approved budget or a maximum of Rs 4.00 lakh per year, whichever is less, of which up to Rs 1.00 lakh may be spent at district level on administration, seminars, workshops, data computerisation and publicity. Payments to them are made quarterly against completed work. To qualify, an organisation must be registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860 or a state society registration act, or be a registered public trust or a licensed charitable company, must have a duly constituted managing body with written powers and duties, must have been registered for at least three years and engaged in social work throughout, must be financially sound, and must not be blacklisted or debarred in any scheme.

Help and contacts

• Departmental helpdesk: 0141-2226638, weekdays 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM
• Email: support.sje@rajasthan.gov.in
• District officer: Deputy Director or Assistant Director, Social Justice and Empowerment Department, at your district headquarters
• Head office: Ambedkar Bhawan, G-3/1, Rajmahal Residency Area, Jaipur

Any relaxation of the guidelines requires the state government's prior consent, and the interpretation given by the Commissioner or Director of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department is final and binding.