Chintan Shivir 2025 | 08 Apr 2025

Why in News? 

The Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment launched the two-day Chintan Shivir 2025 in Dehradun, Uttarakhand to strengthen Centre-State partnerships for ensuring social justice for marginalized communities. 

Key Points 

  • Key Focus Areas: 
    • The deliberations revolved around four core pillars—education, economic development, social protection, and accessibility. 
    • The Department showcased progress in schemes like Assistance to Disabled Persons (ADIP), scholarships for PwDs, skill development, and digital inclusion. 
    • States shared best practices such as mobile assessment camps, inclusive school infrastructure, and accessible transportation models. 
    • Discussions also covered Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarships and PM-YASASVI, focusing on marginalised groups. 
      • States flagged issues in digital applications, verification systems, and outreach to rural and tribal communities. 
    • The Ministry urged adoption of proactive communication and grassroots-level mobilisation to improve scholarship implementation. 
  • Livelihood and Economic Inclusion: 
    • The Ministry assessed performance of PM-AJAY and SEED, with states showcasing successful models in asset creation, cluster development, and entrepreneurship. 
    • Discussions focused on modernising sanitation work, eliminating manual scavenging, and promoting dignity for sanitation workers—especially women—through technology and inter-agency coordination. 

PM-YASASVI Scheme 

  • About: Launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, it provides financial aid for quality education to marginalized students.  
  • Eligibility: It is open to OBC, Economically Backward Classes (EBC), and DNT students with family income up to Rs 2.5 lakh per annum.  
  • Sub-Schemes: It is an umbrella scheme consisting of sub-schemes like:   
    • Pre-Matric Scholarship: Rs. 4,000 annual academic allowance to families with income below Rs. 2.5 lakh.  
    • Post-Matric Scholarship: Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000 depending on the course category.  
    • College Education: Top college students get full financial support, including tuition, living expenses, and education materials.  
    • Hostels: Accommodation facility near government schools and institutions. 

 SEED 

  • The Scheme for Economic Empowerment of Denotified/Nomadic/SemiNomadic (SEED) communities was launched in February 2022 by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. 
  • It aims to provide free competitive exam coaching to these students, to provide health insurance to families, to uplift clusters of these communities through livelihood initiatives, and to provide financial assistance for housing.