Karmashree Prakalpa

What is Karmashree Prakalpa?

Karmashree Prakalpa is a wage employment scheme of the Government of West Bengal, run by the Panchayats and Rural Development Department, whose stated aim is to "provide at least 50 (fifty) days of wage employment to each Job Card holder household in a financial year".

Karmashree was announced by the state Finance Minister, Chandrima Bhattacharya, during the West Bengal budget presentation on 8 February 2024, and was notified by the Panchayats and Rural Development Department through order number 1140-PRD dated 7 March 2024. The department launched a dedicated online portal for the scheme on 14 June 2024.

The scheme exists to keep unskilled rural wage work available across West Bengal's districts for households registered under the rural employment programme. Karmashree Prakalpa is built on the existing job card system, the state did not create a parallel registration. A household that already holds a job card is the unit of entitlement, and a household without one can obtain a job card and then participate.

How Karmashree Prakalpa is structured

• Entitlement unit: the job card holder household, not the individual.
• Entitlement size: at least 50 days of wage employment in a financial year.
• Work type: unskilled manual labour on developmental works identified by state government departments.
• Coverage: all districts and rural areas of West Bengal.
• Wage basis: minimum wage rates fixed by the West Bengal Labour Department and the applicable minimum wage legislation.

Who is eligible for Karmashree Prakalpa?

You can seek work if:

• You are a permanent resident of West Bengal.
• You are 18 years of age or above.
• You belong to a job card holder household registered under the rural employment programme. A household that does not hold a job card can obtain one first and then demand work.
• You are willing to do unskilled manual work on the developmental works taken up in your block.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a resident of West Bengal.
• You are below 18 years of age.
• You are not attached to a job card holder household, and have not obtained a job card.
• You are looking for a salaried, skilled or permanent government post. Karmashree Prakalpa is not eligible as a route to regular government employment, it provides days of manual wage work, paid at minimum wage rates.

There is no income ceiling, no caste restriction and no separate means test named in the scheme order. Eligibility runs through the job card, which is itself issued to rural households willing to do unskilled manual work.

What does Karmashree Prakalpa pay?

The 50 days is a household entitlement per financial year, not per person, so two adults from the same household share the same 50-day pool rather than drawing 50 days each. The wage figure is deliberately not fixed inside the scheme order. It tracks the Labour Department's minimum wage notification, which is revised from time to time. Ask at the Gram Panchayat office for the rate in force for the current year rather than relying on an older published figure.

What documents are required for Karmashree Prakalpa?

How to apply for work under Karmashree Prakalpa

1. Obtain or locate the household job card. If your household does not hold one, apply for a job card at the Gram Panchayat first, since every subsequent step keys to the job card number.
2. Collect and fill the work demand form at your Gram Panchayat office or the Block Development Office, stating the number of days of work you are seeking. A single demand can be for up to 14 consecutive days.
3. Submit the work demand form at the Gram Panchayat or Block Development Office and keep the acknowledgement, which records the date of your demand. The date matters, because allotment is first-come, first-served.
4. Wait for allotment by the Block Development Officer. State government departments identify developmental works in the block where unskilled labour is needed, and the BDO assigns available workers from the demand forms received in the order they came in.
5. Report to the worksite on the date allotted, and work the days allotted under the site supervisor.
6. Receive wages in your account at the minimum wage rate applicable, once the muster roll for the work period is measured and passed.

Repeat the demand cycle through the year until the household's 50 days are completed.

How do you check the status of a Karmashree work demand?

Karmashree Prakalpa is tracked at two levels. On the ground, the Gram Panchayat and Block Development Office hold the register of work demand forms received and the muster rolls for works in progress — this is where a worker checks whether their demand has been allotted and whether a day's attendance was recorded. At the administrative level, the Panchayats and Rural Development Department runs the Karmashree portal at karmashree.wb.gov.in, launched on 14 June 2024, through which departments and blocks record works and monitor implementation. Workers should note that the portal is an implementation and monitoring system: the demand for work itself is made offline, on a form, at the Gram Panchayat or Block office.

Why does a work demand not get fulfilled?

• No work identified in the block for the period demanded, because the scheme depends on departments proposing works that need unskilled labour.
• Demand filed late relative to others, since the BDO assigns on a first-come, first-served basis and the available slots on a work fill up.
• Job card details not matching. A name, Aadhaar or account mismatch stalls the wage payment even after the work is done.
• Bank or post office account inactive, dormant or not correctly recorded, so the credit fails.
• Household's 50 days already exhausted for that financial year by another member.
• Attendance not recorded on the muster roll for days actually worked, which has to be corrected with the site supervisor before payment is passed.

What should a worker keep track of?

Three things protect a Karmashree worker. First, the acknowledgement of the work demand form, which fixes the date the demand was made. Second, the muster roll entry for every day worked, since payment follows the muster roll, not memory. Third, the bank or post office account into which wages land: keeping it active and correctly linked to the job card avoids the most common payment failure. A household should also keep count of days already drawn in the financial year, because the 50-day entitlement is shared across the household.

Where do you get help or complain?

• First stop: your Gram Panchayat office, which holds the work demand register and the job card records.
• Second stop: the Block Development Officer, who allots work and passes muster rolls.
• District level: the District Magistrate's office and the district Panchayats and Rural Development establishment.
• Department: Panchayats and Rural Development Department, Government of West Bengal, the nodal department for the scheme.
• Portal: karmashree.wb.gov.in for scheme information and implementation records.

Demanding work under Karmashree Prakalpa is free. No fee is payable for a job card, for a work demand form, or for being placed on a worksite, and no intermediary is required between the worker and the Gram Panchayat.