Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana

What is Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana?

Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana is the training arm of the Uttar Pradesh Matikala Board, the autonomous body set up under the Khadi and Village Industries Department by notification number 475/59/1-2018 dated 19 July 2018. The scheme provides free residential training to clay artisans so that they can run their own enterprise rather than work only as craftspeople for others.

According to the Matikala Board, the scheme exists to develop the skill already latent in Matikala artisans, and it does this in two distinct ways. The Board runs skill upgradation and promotion training for craftspeople, and separately gives practical knowledge to candidates newly selected to set up a unit, so that they can handle the problems that surface after the industry is established. Training covers the entire urban and rural area of Uttar Pradesh, and all programmes are held at the divisional village industries training centres established under the Khadi and Village Industries Board.

The scheme has no cash grant. What an applicant receives is the training itself, delivered residentially, at no cost.

What are the two training courses?

1. Seven-day practical training

This course is for candidates already selected under Mukhyamantri Matikala Rojgar Yojana, the Board's loan-and-margin-money scheme for setting up a pottery unit costing up to Rs 10 lakh. The Matikala Board describes it as introductory knowledge of the industrial world for people setting up a new industry, delivered residentially over seven days. The syllabus covers:

• The various registrations and licences a pottery unit needs
• Financial management
• Time management
• Taxation
• Quality control
• Packaging
• Marketing
• Branding

This is business training, not craft training. It assumes the trainee already knows how to make the product.

2. Fifteen-day Matikala craft training

This is the residential craft course, and it is open more widely. The Board lists the content as:

• Making items of daily use
• Making decorative items
• Making toys and idols
• Cutting, inlay work, painting and carving on clay products

Artisans who need to raise the quality or the range of what they can produce take this course rather than the seven-day one.

Who is eligible for Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana?

For the 7-day practical training:

• Only beneficiaries already selected under Mukhyamantri Matikala Rojgar Yojana are trained. There is no separate application route into this course.

For the 15-day Matikala craft training, you can apply if:

• You are a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• You have completed 18 years of age as on 1 April of the relevant financial year.
• You are literate.
• You have traditional knowledge of Matikala work.

Reservation for reserved-category candidates is ensured in line with the state government's arrangements, subject to the availability of applicants.

Priority within the eligible pool is given to:

• Persons with disabilities
• Members of BPL families
• Women

You cannot apply, or you are not eligible, if:

• You are not a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• You are under 18 as on 1 April of the financial year concerned.
• You are illiterate, since literacy is an express condition.
• You have no traditional knowledge of Matikala work. This is a skill upgradation scheme for people already connected to clay craft, not a general vocational training scheme.
• Another member of your family has already been selected in the same round. Selection is made one member per family on the basis of the ration card.
• You want the 7-day business course but have not been selected under Mukhyamantri Matikala Rojgar Yojana. That course is closed to everyone else.

How are trainees selected?

For the craft training, the District Village Industries Officer invites applications, offline or online, and the selection is then made by a three-member district-level committee constituted by the Uttar Pradesh Matikala Board:

Once the district committees have made their selection, the District Village Industries Officer forwards the list of selected beneficiaries, along with their application forms, to the concerned divisional training centres, where the residential course is actually held.

What documents are required?

The ration card is worth carrying to the district office even though it is not a portal upload field, because the one-member-per-family selection rule is applied on the basis of it.

How to apply for Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana

1. Open the Matikala Board portal at upmatikalaboard.in.
2. From the Yojanayein menu select Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana, then choose the option to apply.
3. Select the financial year and your district on the application form.
4. Fill in the personal details, the trainee's permanent address and the temporary address, which can be marked the same as the permanent one, and then the bank details.
5. Upload the Aadhaar card, caste certificate, bank passbook copy and photograph in the accepted formats, adding the educational qualification document if you have one.
6. Submit the form, then open View Your Application and check every field. Use Update Application to correct anything before going further.
7. Tick the declaration and choose Final Submit.
8. Log in later through Registered Applicant Login with the scheme name, user name and password to check the status. The portal forces a password change on the first login.

Can I apply offline?

Yes, and this scheme differs from the Board's other two in exactly that respect. The Matikala Board states that trainees for the craft training are selected by the District Village Industries Officer after inviting applications offline or online. An artisan who cannot use the portal should therefore:

1. Visit the office of the District Village Industries Officer and ask for the Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana application, or
2. Use a Jan Seva Kendra or Common Service Centre to submit the online form.

How to check application status

1. Open upmatikalaboard.in and click Registered Applicant Login.
2. Enter the scheme name, user name and password used at the time of applying.
3. Change the password on first login, then log in again.
4. The dashboard shows the current status of the training application.

Artisans whose applications have been forwarded to a divisional training centre should follow up with the District Village Industries Officer, since the batch scheduling happens at the centre and not on the portal.

Common reasons applications are not selected

• No traditional Matikala knowledge. The scheme is a skill upgradation measure; applicants with no background in clay work rank lowest.
• Age computed wrongly. The 18-year threshold is measured as on 1 April of the relevant financial year, not on the date of application.
• A family member already selected. Two applications from one ration card cannot both succeed in the same round.
• Compulsory uploads missing. Aadhaar, caste certificate, bank passbook copy and photograph are all mandatory on the portal.
• Form not finally submitted. Without Final Submit, the application never reaches the district committee.
• Limited seats. The divisional training centres run batches of a fixed size, so an eligible artisan may be held over to a later batch. Applications may be refiled in the next financial year.

How this scheme fits with the Board's other schemes

The Matikala Board runs a linked set of schemes, and Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana sits in the middle of them:

• Mukhyamantri Matikala Rojgar Yojana finances a pottery unit of up to Rs 10 lakh, with 5 per cent own contribution, 95 per cent bank loan and margin money of 25 per cent of the capital loan. Its beneficiaries are then routed into the 7-day business training under this scheme.
• Matikala Tool-Kits Vitran Yojana distributes a free electric potter's wheel or pug mill machine to artisans aged 18 to 55, with its own separate 3-day equipment training.
• Micro Matikala Common Facility Centre Yojana, Matikala Vipran Vikas Sahayata for marketing support, and the Matikala Puraskar Yojana awards round out the Board's portfolio.

An artisan starting out will usually take the 15-day craft training first, since Mukhyamantri Matikala Rojgar Yojana requires either prior Matikala training or traditional knowledge before a loan is taken.

Key facts to remember

• Craft course: 15 days, residential
• Business course: 7 days, residential, for Rojgar Yojana beneficiaries only
• Cost to trainee: free
• Minimum age: 18 years, as on 1 April of the financial year
• Education: literate
• Venue: divisional village industries training centres
• Selection rule: one member per family, by ration card

Help and grievance redressal

• Matikala Board Samadhan Cell toll-free: 1800-120-7699
• Matikala Board landlines: 0522-2208321 and 0522-2208243
• Office address: Uttar Pradesh Matikala Board, Khadi Bhawan Parisar, 8 Tilak Marg, Lucknow 226001
• District level: office of the District Village Industries Officer
• Division level: office of the Divisional Village Industries Officer

The training and the application are both free. No fee is charged by the Matikala Board or by the divisional training centres, and no agent can charge for getting a name added to a training batch.