CH NEWS, VIJAYAPURA
With the objective of increasing employment opportunities in rural areas and providing livelihood security to rural families within their villages, a month-long ‘Job Card Mela’ special campaign is being conducted across the State from August 15 to September 15 under the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM-G) scheme. The campaign assumes significance against the backdrop of the prevailing drought-like conditions and slowdown in agricultural activities. Its primary objective is to provide unskilled employment to rural people within their villages, thereby strengthening their income and livelihood. Availability of local employment is also expected to help prevent migration of rural workers to urban areas in search of jobs.
Under the VB-G RAM-G scheme, implemented in the State from July 1, 2026, unskilled work is being provided to registered workers who have completed e-KYC. However, during July, only about 1.18 lakh families out of nearly 2.76 lakh registered job cards in the district actively participated in the scheme. Therefore, the special campaign has been launched to increase the participation of active families, bring inactive job card holders back into the scheme and register newly eligible families.
From August 15, officials and staff at the gram panchayat level, along with Gram Kayaka Mitras, women’s self-help groups, community organisations, watershed development associations and milk producers’ cooperatives, will conduct door-to-door visits to collect employment demands. Applications will also be accepted from eligible families who are not yet registered for issuance of new job cards. Priority will be given to vulnerable groups, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women-headed households, persons with disabilities and gender minorities.
If an existing job card has expired, steps will be taken for its renewal on the spot. The campaign also aims to achieve 100 per cent e-KYC completion for newly issued job cards as well as registered workers whose e-KYC is pending. Applications seeking unskilled employment will be accepted through Form-06. Every worker demanding employment will be issued an acknowledgement in Form-08, clearly mentioning the date on which the worker is required to report for work.
