Uttarakhand Oon Yojana

What is Uttarakhand Oon Yojana?

Uttarakhand Oon Yojana, literally the Uttarakhand Wool Scheme, and written in Hindi as Uttarakhand Oon Yojana, is a district-plan scheme of the Uttarakhand Khadi and Village Industries Board, which works under the Department of Industries of the Government of Uttarakhand. The scheme keeps traditional hill wool spinning and weaving alive as a paid livelihood rather than a hobby craft, by training people, giving them the equipment and raw material, and buying their output at fixed rates.

According to the Government of Uttarakhand's Meri Yojana: Rajya Sarkar scheme compendium published by the Programme Implementation Department, the scheme operates through four regional offices headed by a Regional Superintendent Industries (Wool), located at Chamba, Srinagar, Almora and Jaspur. Under these four offices sit the departmental spinning and production centres where the spinning and weaving work is actually organised.

How the scheme works in practice

• Willing candidates are selected for spinning and weaving training.
• After training, the department supplies wool and an NMC charkha, either through a departmental spinning or production centre, or at the beneficiary's own home.
• Spinners and weavers are paid for spinning and weaving at the rates fixed by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Government of India, which gives them work through the year rather than seasonally.
• Registered artisans are enrolled in the Khadi and Poly Vastra Artisan Welfare and Pension Trust, with a 12 per cent artisan contribution and a 12 per cent departmental contribution.
• A bonus of 25 per cent of the spinning and weaving wages paid during the year is given to the artisans.

The Board's wider structure gives a sense of scale: one headquarters, two divisional village industries training centres for the Garhwal and Kumaon divisions, 13 district village industries offices, four regional superintendent (wool) offices, 20 production centres and 10 sales centres.

Who is eligible for Uttarakhand Oon Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You are at least 18 years old, this is the scheme's only age condition.
• You are an original or permanent resident of Uttarakhand.
• You are willing to undergo the departmental spinning and weaving training.

You are not eligible / cannot apply if:

• You are under 18 on the date of application.
• You are not a domicile or permanent resident of Uttarakhand. The scheme is a state district-plan scheme and does not extend to residents of other states working temporarily in Uttarakhand.
• You are applying as a firm, society or trading company rather than as an individual artisan. The benefit is a work-and-wage arrangement with an individual spinner or weaver, not a supply contract.

There is deliberately no educational qualification requirement. The scheme compendium states this in as many words. Selection therefore turns on willingness, residence and age, and on how much spinning and weaving work the department needs in that area at that time.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Uttarakhand Oon Yojana

1. Identify your nearest office. This is either the District Village Industries Office in your district — there are 13 across Uttarakhand, or the office of the Regional Superintendent Industries (Wool) at Chamba, Srinagar, Almora or Jaspur.
2. Visit the office and register your interest in the spinning and weaving training under Uttarakhand Oon Yojana. The scheme compendium names exactly these offices as the contact points for interested applicants.
3. Submit your documents: age proof, Uttarakhand domicile or permanent residence certificate, identity proof, photographs and a bank passbook copy.
4. Wait for selection. Beneficiaries are selected according to departmental requirement by the public representative of the area, or by the District Village Industries Officer along with the concerned Regional Superintendent Industries (Wool).
5. Complete the spinning and weaving training arranged by the department.
6. Collect the wool and NMC charkha and start work, either at the departmental spinning or production centre or at your own home, and register with the Khadi and Poly Vastra Artisan Welfare and Pension Trust so that the 12 per cent contributions and the annual bonus apply to you.

How much can a spinner or weaver earn?

Uttarakhand Oon Yojana does not pay a flat monthly stipend. Earnings are piece-rate wages for spinning and weaving at the rates notified by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Government of India, so the amount depends on how much yarn or cloth the artisan produces. What the state adds on top is what makes the scheme worth registering for:

• A 25 per cent bonus on the spinning and weaving wages paid during the year.
• A 12 per cent departmental contribution into the artisan's account with the Khadi and Poly Vastra Artisan Welfare and Pension Trust, matched by a 12 per cent contribution from the artisan.
• Year-round work availability, since the department itself supplies the raw wool and takes the output.

Because the rates are fixed centrally and revised from time to time, ask the Regional Superintendent Industries (Wool) office for the current spinning and weaving rate card before you commit; do not rely on a figure quoted by an intermediary.

How to check your application or payment status

There is no online status tracker for Uttarakhand Oon Yojana. Follow up in person or by phone:

1. Go back to the District Village Industries Office or the Regional Superintendent Industries (Wool) office where you applied.
2. Quote the date of application and the training batch you were considered for.
3. For wage or bonus payments, ask the production centre in-charge for the production record against your name for the period, then check it against your bank statement.
4. If nothing moves, escalate to the Directorate of Industries, Uttarakhand on 0135-2728227.

Common reasons an application does not go through

• No live departmental requirement in that block at that time. Selection is explicitly tied to departmental utility, so an application can be held rather than rejected until a centre needs spinners.
• Domicile certificate not produced. State residence is a hard condition.
• Age below 18 on the date of application.
• Bank account details missing or dormant, which blocks the wage and bonus credits even after the work is done.
• Approaching the wrong office. Handloom and handicraft queries often get routed to the Uttarakhand Handloom and Handicraft Development Council, but the wool spinning scheme sits with the Khadi and Village Industries Board and its four wool offices.

Related schemes run by the same Board

The Uttarakhand Khadi and Village Industries Board implements three other lines alongside Uttarakhand Oon Yojana, and an applicant is often better served by one of them:

• Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), a centrally sponsored credit-linked subsidy scheme for setting up a micro enterprise.
• Discount on the sale of khadi cloth, a state-sector scheme.
• Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana. A state-sector self-employment scheme funding projects up to Rs 25 lakh in manufacturing and up to Rs 10 lakh in the service and business sector through banks, with a 25 per cent margin-money subsidy in Category A districts, capped at Rs 6.25 lakh for manufacturing and Rs 2.50 lakh in the service sector.

If your aim is to run your own wool unit rather than to spin for the department, Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana or PMEGP is the correct door.

Help and contacts

• Directorate of Industries, Uttarakhand: 0135-2728227, toll-free 7618544555, DDPM Hyundai building, fourth floor, Haridwar Bypass Road, Ajabpur Khurd, Dehradun
• Uttarakhand Handloom and Handicraft Development Council: 0135-2728227 / 0135-2728272, Directorate of Industries, Industrial Area Patel Nagar, Dehradun 248001
• Regional Superintendent Industries (Wool) offices: Chamba, Srinagar, Almora and Jaspur
• District Village Industries Office in each of the 13 districts

No fee is payable for registering under Uttarakhand Oon Yojana, and neither the charkha nor the wool is sold to the beneficiary; both are supplied by the department.