Matikala Tool-Kits Vitran Yojana

What is Matikala Tool-Kits Vitran Yojana?

Matikala Tool-Kits Vitran Yojana is a free equipment distribution scheme of the Uttar Pradesh Matikala Board, the autonomous body constituted under the state's Khadi and Village Industries Department by notification number 475/59/1-2018 dated 19 July 2018. The scheme gives traditional clay artisans a modern pottery tool-kit at no cost, together with three days of training on how to use it.

The reasoning given by the Matikala Board is straightforward. Working with traditional pottery implements is extremely labour-intensive, and that physical strain directly limits how much an artisan can produce in a day. Replacing the hand-turned wheel and manual clay preparation with powered equipment raises output per artisan without requiring the artisan to change craft or move location, which is what the scheme is designed to achieve.

On the Board's own application form, the tool-kit offered is one of two machines:

• Vidyut Chalit Chak, an electric potter's wheel, which replaces the hand-turned or foot-turned wheel.
• Pug Mill Machine — used for kneading and preparing clay to a uniform consistency before throwing, the step that consumes the most manual effort in a traditional workshop.

The artisan selects one of these on the application. There is no cash grant, no subsidy percentage and no loan component in this scheme. The equipment and the training together are the entire benefit, which is what makes it different from the Board's Mukhyamantri Matikala Rojgar Yojana, where a bank loan and margin money are involved.

Delivery runs through the Khadi and Village Industries Board's existing field structure: the Divisional Village Industries Officer at division level and the District Village Industries Officer at district level.

Who is eligible for Matikala Tool-Kits Vitran Yojana?

The Matikala Board lists four categories of person who may apply, and any one of them qualifies:

• Traditional Matikala artisans, meaning people already working in clay craft.
• Educated unemployed candidates from traditional artisan families.
• Candidates trained in, or holding a certificate in, any branch of Matikala.
• Women from traditional artisan families who are interested in self-employment.

In addition, every applicant must satisfy these conditions:

• Be a native resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• Be aged between 18 and 55 years, counted as on 1 April of the relevant financial year.

Reservation for reserved-category candidates is ensured in line with the state government's arrangements, subject to the availability of applicants, which is why a caste certificate is a compulsory upload.

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

• You are not a native resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• You are under 18 or over 55 as on 1 April of the financial year concerned. The upper limit is firm, and it is more restrictive than the Board's employment loan scheme, which has no upper age cap.
• You have no link to traditional pottery work, neither as a practising artisan, nor as a member of an artisan family, nor as a trained certificate holder. This is not a general self-employment scheme open to anyone.
• You are applying as a firm, society or self-help group. Tool-kits are distributed to individual artisans.

How are beneficiaries selected?

Because the number of tool-kits in a financial year is limited, selection is competitive rather than automatic. A district-level selection committee does the choosing, constituted as follows:

The Matikala Board states the criteria the committee weighs:

• Economic condition of the applicant.
• Experience in Matikala work.
• Technical knowledge.
• Marketing ability.

In practice this means a poorer artisan with long hands-on experience and a real route to selling output ranks above a better-off applicant with a thinner connection to the craft.

What documents are required?

The ration card or Family ID upload is worth completing even though the portal marks it optional, because it is the simplest way for the district committee to see the household's composition and economic position, which is the first of the four selection criteria.

How to apply for Matikala Tool-Kits Vitran Yojana

1. Open the Matikala Board portal at upmatikalaboard.in.
2. From the Yojanayein menu select Matikala Tool-Kits Vitran Yojana, then choose the option to apply.
3. On the application form, select the tool-kit you want, either the electric potter's wheel or the pug mill machine, and select the financial year and your district.
4. Fill in the personal details, the communication address, and the proposed unit address, which can be marked the same as the communication address.
5. Upload the caste certificate, photograph, and where available the educational qualification certificate and ration card or Family ID, in the accepted formats.
6. Submit the form, then open View Your Application and check every entry. Use Update Application to correct any mistake before proceeding.
7. Tick the declaration and choose Final Submit. An application that is never finally submitted does not reach the selection committee.
8. Log in later through Registered Applicant Login with the scheme name, user name and password to follow the application.

Is there an offline route?

Matikala Tool-Kits Vitran Yojana invites applications online only. There is no parallel paper form issued by the Board. Artisans who cannot use the portal directly should:

1. Use a Jan Seva Kendra or Common Service Centre, which can register, fill the form and upload the scans.
2. Approach the District Village Industries Officer, the convenor member of the district selection committee and the officer responsible for implementing Matikala Board schemes locally.

What training is given with the tool-kit?

Selected artisans receive a three-day training programme at the departmental divisional training centres. According to the Matikala Board, the training covers new techniques in Matikala work and the operation of the tool-kit itself.

This is deliberately short and equipment-focused. Artisans who want deeper craft or business training should look at the Board's separate Matikala Kaushal Vikas Yojana, which runs a 15-day residential craft course covering daily-use items, decorative items, toys and idols, and cutting, inlay, painting and carving on clay products, and a 7-day practical business course covering registrations, licences, financial management, taxation, quality control, packaging, marketing and branding.

How to check application status

1. Open upmatikalaboard.in and click Registered Applicant Login.
2. Enter the scheme name, user name and password created at application time.
3. Change the password on first login, then log in again with the updated password.
4. The dashboard shows the application's current status.

Common reasons applications fail

• Age outside 18 to 55 on 1 April. Applicants frequently compute age on the date of applying rather than on 1 April of the financial year.
• No demonstrated link to traditional pottery. An application with no artisan family record, no training certificate and no working experience in clay is the weakest kind before the committee.
• Caste certificate missing. It is a compulsory upload, so the form will not complete without it.
• Residence proof not produced. Native residence in Uttar Pradesh is a threshold requirement.
• Form left at draft stage. Without Final Submit, the application is invisible to the district committee.
• More applicants than kits. In a year where the allotment for a district is small, a perfectly eligible artisan may simply be outranked on economic condition, experience, technical knowledge or marketing ability, and should reapply in the following financial year.

Key facts to remember

• Benefit: one free tool-kit, either an electric potter's wheel or a pug mill machine
• Cash component: none
• Training: 3 days at a divisional training centre
• Age band: 18 to 55 years, as on 1 April of the financial year
• Residence: native resident of Uttar Pradesh
• Application mode: online only, at upmatikalaboard.in

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

Applying is free. The Matikala Board charges nothing for the application, the selection process, the tool-kit or the training, and no agent can charge a fee for getting an artisan's name included in the distribution list.