Rajasthan Jan Samman Video Contest

What was the Rajasthan Jan Samman Video Contest?

Rajasthan Jan Samman Video Contest was a public communication competition run by the Information and Public Relations Department of the Government of Rajasthan. Launched on 7 July 2023, the contest asked residents of the state to make a short video about any Rajasthan welfare scheme and post it on their own social media, with cash prizes for the best entries.

The contest was open for exactly one month, from 7 July 2023 to 6 August 2023, and it is closed. The dedicated portal used at the time, jansamman.rajasthan.gov.in, no longer resolves, and the Information and Public Relations Department has not notified a further edition. This page records what the contest was, because the name still turns up in searches and because unofficial sites continue to list it as though entries were being accepted.

The design was straightforward: rather than the state buying advertising to explain its schemes, ordinary beneficiaries were paid to explain them in their own words. The phrase used across the campaign was Jan Samman, and entries carried the hashtag #JanSammanJaiRajasthan.

What were the prizes?

Winners of the three main prizes also received a Jan Samman certificate. The Prerna awards were the volume component to 1,000 awards of Rs 1,000 each, given out through the contest month rather than only at the end, which meant a strong entry had a realistic chance of some recognition without winning outright.

Prize money was payable into the bank account seeded in the entrant's Jan Aadhaar record, in line with how Rajasthan routes all Direct Benefit Transfers.

Who could enter, and who was not eligible?

A person could enter if:

• They were a resident of Rajasthan.
• They were 13 years of age or above. This was one of the few state competitions open to school-age entrants.
• They held a Jan Aadhaar card, which was used both to confirm residence and to pay any prize.
• They had at least two social media accounts of their own, since the entry had to be posted on two handles.

A person was not eligible if:

• They were not a resident of Rajasthan, however good the video.
• They were below 13 years of age.
• They had no Jan Aadhaar card, since the registration form was validated against it.
• Their video ran shorter than 30 seconds or longer than 120 seconds, or was not about a Rajasthan state welfare scheme. Entries outside the guidelines were eliminated at the first stage of screening.

How to enter the Jan Samman Video Contest

The entry route, while the contest was live, was as follows.

1. Make a video of 30 to 120 seconds about any Rajasthan state welfare scheme, in any creative format — song, dance, poetry, an interview with a beneficiary, or straight narration.
2. Upload the video to two of your own social media handles with the hashtag #JanSammanJaiRajasthan, and keep the post public so the judges could open it.
3. Fill the registration form on the contest portal, entering your Jan Aadhaar number, contact details and the links to both social media posts.
4. Keep the acknowledgement, which carried the entry reference used to track the result.

Entries then went through three stages of evaluation, first a check on whether the entry complied with the guidelines, then an assessment of video quality and creativity, and finally a judgement on how effectively the entry communicated its message.

Why this contest is worth recording

Rajasthan Jan Samman Video Contest is a good example of a category readers routinely misread: a time-boxed government campaign, not a welfare scheme. It had a start date, an end date one month later, a fixed prize pool and no continuing entitlement. Nobody is "still eligible" for it, there is no beneficiary list to check, and there is no pending payment to chase.

Two practical points follow for anyone who lands here from a search.

First, if you entered in 2023 and believe a prize was never paid, the route is the Information and Public Relations Department at dipr.rajasthan.gov.in, not any third-party site. The department's contact numbers published with the contest were 0141-2927393, 0141-2927398 and 0141-2927399, and the general state helpline 181 can direct a query.

Second, if you are looking for a live opportunity, check the current notices on the department's own site. Rajasthan departments do run periodic photography, essay, video and short-film competitions, but each is separately notified with its own window, and none of them accepts entries under the Jan Samman name.

Where to get help

• Information & Public Relations Department, Rajasthan: dipr.rajasthan.gov.in
• Contest office numbers published in 2023: 0141-2927393, 0141-2927398, 0141-2927399
• State helpline: 181
• Jan Aadhaar helpline: 181, for correcting the bank account or family record that any state prize payment depends on

Entry was free. No fee, agent or "registration service" was ever part of this contest, and because it is closed, any site currently offering Jan Samman Video Contest registration should be treated as a fraud and reported on the state anti-corruption helpline 1064.