In the state of Chhattisgarh, the state government launched the welfare scheme in favour of Tendu Leaf Collectors under the name of Charan Paduka Yojana. Under this scheme, the government is going to provide footwear and slippers to all the tendu leaf collectors. Especially to the poor and tribal collectors of the state. So many men and women are working in the Forest of the state to collect the Tendu Leaf barefoot. So to provide them safety while working in the Forest, the government started this scheme in their favour of them.
If any of the person who also belongs to the Tribal category and belongs to a poor family and whose occupation is only to collect the Tendu Leaf is eligible for this scheme. You need to collect more details about it.
Chhattisgarh Charan Paduka Yojana
So, as per the new updates of the state government of Chhattisgarh, the government has again revived this scheme across the state. While reviving this scheme, the state government set the aim to provide the benefits to all the Tendu Leaf collectors of the state. The government is going to distribute slippers and footwear for free. Government specially focus on the women who work in the forest barefoot and belong to the Tribal Community of the state.
In this scheme, more than 1.24 million tendu leaf collectors are going to get benefits from the side of the government and to run this scheme smoothly in the state, the government also released the budget of Rs.40 Crore to implementation of this scheme.
| Scheme | Charan Paduka Yojana |
| Firstly Launched in | 2005 |
| Again, re-launch on | 2025 |
| Beneficiary | Tendu Leaf Collector |
| Benefits Given | Free Shoes/ Footwear or Slipper |
| Eligibility | Both Male and Female Collectors |
Objective of Charan Paduka Yojana
As per the government’s view, the Tendu Leaf Collectors and their families play a very important role in the traditional economy of the state of Chhattisgarh. The government also wants to uplift the tribal communities who depend on Forest work. With the help of this scheme, the government wants to support them by providing footwear and slippers free of Cost. So that while working in the forest, they get Safety.
Features of Scheme
- Beneficiaries Coverage: In this scheme, the government added 12.4 Lakhs Tendu Leaf Collectors belonging to Tribal communities and working in Forest in all across the state of Chhattisgarh will be selected as beneficiaries of the scheme. But this scheme specially focus on women collectors.
- Benefits Given: All the Eligible Beneficiaries will get Footwear from the government to protect them from Thorn, Creatures available in the Forest which are Poisonous.
- Aim: Government revive this scheme with the aim of promoting the safety and security of all the beneficiaries.
- Distribution Process of Footwear: The Footwear and Slippers will be distributed by the government through collectors who are selected as distributors directly to beneficiaries, or some time government organized specially program for the distribution of Shoes.
Re- Launch of Charan Paduka
Firstly, this scheme was launched in November 2005 by the then state government of Chhattisgarh. And in 2025, the government will again revive this scheme to uplift the tribal communities and communities who are fully dependent on Forest work. At the start of this scheme, it only provided the benefits of free Shoes Distribution to the male members of the families. But in 2008, the women or female members of the families were also added as beneficiaries to receive the benefits. Now, from each family, two family members are going to receive one pair of Footwear or slippers aged 18 years or above.
Eligibility Criteria
- In this scheme, only the permanent citizens of the Chhattisgarh state are included as beneficiaries.
- The beneficiaries’ families must have their main occupation as Tendu Leaf Collectors.
- All tendu Leaf collectors who are 18 years of age or above are eligible to receive the benefits of the scheme.
- From each of the family maximum two family members are eligible to receive shoes/footwear or slippers from the government.
- Initially, the scheme government only included the Male members of the family, but in 2008, the government extended its eligibility, and now Female members of the family are equally eligible to get the benefits of the scheme.
Important Documents List
- An identity card as a Tendu Leaf Collector issued by the Forest Department of the state. This is the main proof of occupation.
- Aadhar Card of the beneficiaries for Individual identity of the beneficiaries.
- Chhattisgarh state Domicile or bonafide certificate.
- To confirm, the family member needs to submit the Ration card of the Family because only two family members from each family get the benefits.
- Photograph of the beneficiaries in colour.
- You can also submit your Bank passbook details with Bank account Number and IFSC Code to get further bonus and funds related to the scheme.
How to Get Free Shoes/Slipper or Footwear Under Charan Paduka Yojana?
To get the benefits of Free Shoes under this scheme, you need to fill out the enrolment form. The process to fill out the enrolment form is totally offline.
- You need to obtain the enrolment form by visiting the Primary Cooperative societies at the time of Tendu Leaf collection season.
- Fill in the Enrolment Form and then attach all the documents to the form as given above.
- Submit your form in the same society, and then they do the field verification of the beneficiaries and verify the history of work. Then they also check how Many Tendu Leaf bundles are collected by beneficiaries in the same season and their recent activities.
- After completing the verification, the name of the beneficiaries Added in the Charan Paduka Distribution List.
Footwear Distribution under this scheme
The Minor Forest Produce Co-Operative Federation of Chhattisgarh State organised the distribution camp of the scheme to distribute the Footwear/Shoes and slippers directly to the beneficiaries. The camps will be organised in Local Collection centres. This distribution program will be started before the work season.
FAQs
Every year, each of the beneficiaries received a pair of shoes from the government.
Before the start of the Tendu Leaf Collection season.
Shankar Kumar is a content writer from Raipur, Chhattisgarh, with 7 years of experience in creating informative and user-friendly articles. He specialises in government schemes, public welfare programs, and the latest updates.