Samarthan

What is Samarthan?

Samarthan is a one-time livelihood grant scheme of the Government of West Bengal, notified on 23 February 2017 and effective immediately from that date. Samarthan was created for a very specific group of people: West Bengal residents who had been working outside the state, lost that work in the disruption that followed the demonetisation announcement of 8 November 2016, and came home with no income.

The scheme pays a one-time grant of Rs 50,000 to enable a beneficiary "to start an alternative business or self-employment scheme". The Labour Department is the nodal department supervising Samarthan, while the actual receipt, verification and decision on applications sits with District Magistrates and district-level approval committees they chair.

Samarthan was rolled out in 10 districts: Purba Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia, Murshidabad, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Cooch Behar and Howrah. That list is not arbitrary, these are the districts from which the largest numbers of West Bengal workers migrate out for construction, jewellery, embroidery, hospitality and factory work, and therefore the districts that saw the largest number of workers coming home when informal cash-paid work dried up.

Two design choices distinguish Samarthan from the more familiar state welfare schemes. First, it is a grant, not a loan, nothing is repaid, no interest runs and no bank credit assessment is involved. Second, it is tied to a livelihood proposal rather than paid as unconditional relief: the applicant had to say what business they intended to start, and the district committee assessed that proposal.

Who is eligible for Samarthan?

You qualify if all of the following are true:

• You are a permanent resident of West Bengal, evidenced by a voter identity card (EPIC) showing residence in the state.
• You were working outside West Bengal before returning home.
• You returned after 8 November 2016, the demonetisation announcement date.
• You lost that employment as a consequence of demonetisation.
• You are the main earning member of your family.
• You hold a savings account at a bank or post office.

Every one of these is a hard condition, and the two that decide most cases are the date of return and the status of principal breadwinner. A worker who came home before 8 November 2016 falls outside the scheme however genuine the hardship. A second earner in a household where somebody else is the main earner also falls outside it, because the grant is targeted at families that lost their primary income entirely.

Who cannot apply

• Workers who returned before 8 November 2016 cannot apply. The cut-off is the defining feature of the scheme.
• Workers who lost jobs within West Bengal are not eligible. Samarthan is built around employment outside the state and a return home.
• A person who is not the main earner of the family is not eligible, even if they personally lost work outside the state.
• Residents of other states are not eligible, since permanent residence in West Bengal evidenced by an EPIC is a stated condition.
• Applicants without a bank or post office savings account cannot be paid, because the grant goes into an account. Opening one is the fix, and is straightforward at any post office.
• Applicants from districts outside the notified list were not covered by the initial rollout, which named ten districts.
• Anyone without a proposed business or self-employment activity has nothing for the committee to assess. Samarthan funds a plan, not a hardship claim in the abstract.

How much does Samarthan pay?

Rs 50,000, one time. That is the whole of the financial benefit. Samarthan is not a monthly allowance, not a pension, not a wage subsidy and not a recurring payment. It is seed capital of a size intended to let a returning worker set up a small trade. A shop, a repair business, a transport or vending activity, a small workshop using a skill learned outside the state.

The money is paid into the applicant's own bank or post office savings account, which is why an account is a condition of eligibility rather than an afterthought.

What documents are required for Samarthan?

Migrant workers frequently have no employer letter at all, because the work was informal and cash-paid, which is exactly why the scheme's verification runs through local enquiry, including by the police, rather than through documents alone. Applicants without paperwork should not assume they are disqualified; they should be ready for a local verification visit and able to name the place, the employer or contractor and the nature of the work.

How to apply for Samarthan

1. Confirm you meet the conditions — permanent West Bengal residence with an EPIC, work outside the state, return after 8 November 2016, loss of that employment, main earner status, and a savings account.
2. Decide the alternative business or self-employment activity you intend to start, and be able to state it clearly. This is the substance of the application, not a formality, the district committee assesses the proposal.
3. Prepare the supporting papers: EPIC, savings account passbook, whatever evidence exists of the outside employment and of the date of return.
4. Submit the application to the office of the District Magistrate of your district. District Magistrates received Samarthan applications directly rather than through an online portal.
5. Cooperate with verification. Applications were verified locally, including through the police, to confirm the applicant really did work outside the state and returned after the cut-off date. Be available and consistent in what you state.
6. Await the district approval committee's decision. The committee is chaired by the District Magistrate and takes the final call. On approval, the Rs 50,000 is credited to the savings account given in the application.

Why would a Samarthan application be rejected?

• Return date before 8 November 2016, which puts the applicant outside the scheme's definition however real the loss of work.
• Job loss inside West Bengal rather than outside the state.
• Not the main earning member of the family, established during verification.
• No proposed activity, or a proposal the committee found unviable at the Rs 50,000 level.
• Verification failure; local enquiry unable to confirm the outside employment or the return.
• No EPIC or a voter card of another state, which breaks the residence condition.
• No savings account, leaving no route to pay the grant.

What are the key dates for Samarthan?

Samarthan was notified and made effective on 23 February 2017, and it is anchored to 8 November 2016 as the qualifying cut-off for return. It was framed as a one-time response to a one-time event, which is what a scheme keyed to a single dated disruption necessarily is. No current application window has been notified, and nobody should travel to a district office on the assumption that Samarthan is open today. The correct check is a direct enquiry at the office of the District Magistrate or with the Labour Department, Government of West Bengal.

A returning migrant worker looking for live support today is better served by the state's standing schemes for unorganised workers. The social security and provident fund cover under the Labour Department, for which the Samajik Mukti Card is the identity instrument, and by the self-employment credit schemes run for young entrepreneurs and small enterprises in the state. Those are open programmes with continuing enrolment, which Samarthan by design is not.

Where do I raise a grievance about Samarthan?

The office of the District Magistrate is the first and most important address, because the District Magistrate received the applications, ordered the verification and chaired the approval committee that decided them. Any question about an application that was verified but never decided, or approved but never credited, belongs there with the application details quoted.

Above the district, the Labour Department, Government of West Bengal is the nodal department for Samarthan and can be approached through wblabour.gov.in. The state's general grievance route at wb.gov.in is the outer layer for a complaint that neither the district nor the department has resolved.

How to check your Samarthan application status

Samarthan had no online portal or application tracking number. It was received, verified and decided entirely offline through the office of the District Magistrate, so there is no website or SMS system where a submitted application can be looked up by an ID.

If you submitted a Samarthan application and want to know where it stands, the steps are:

1. Go back to the office of the District Magistrate where you originally filed the application. Bring the date of submission, the name under which it was filed and, if you have one, an acknowledgement slip or receipt number given at the time of filing.
2. Ask specifically which of the three stages the file has reached: local verification (including the police enquiry into the outside employment and the return date), placement before the district approval committee, or a decision already taken by the committee chaired by the District Magistrate.
3. If the committee has approved the application, ask whether the Rs 50,000 has been credited to the savings account named in the application, and if not, why the credit is pending.
4. If you cannot get an answer at the district office, escalate in writing to the Labour Department, Government of West Bengal, since it is the nodal department for Samarthan and can be reached through wblabour.gov.in. Quote the district, the date of filing and the acknowledgement details in that letter.

Because Samarthan was a one-time 2017 scheme with no current application window, this status-check route only applies to someone who actually filed within the original rollout in the ten notified districts. It is not a way to track a fresh application, since fresh applications are not being accepted.