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In a significant step towards strengthening digital governance and improving welfare delivery, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the PM-AJAY Portal and the AJAY Mobile App under the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY). The initiative aims to fully digitise grassroots-level planning, implementation, monitoring, and beneficiary management under the scheme, thereby enhancing transparency, accountability, and efficiency in the socio-economic development of Scheduled Caste (SC) communities.

The launch reflects the government's broader vision of leveraging technology to improve service delivery, ensure real-time monitoring, and promote evidence-based policymaking in social sector programmes.

About PM-AJAY

The Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) implemented by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. It was introduced by rationalising and merging earlier schemes aimed at Scheduled Caste development.

The scheme seeks to improve the socio-economic conditions of Scheduled Castes through targeted interventions focused on poverty reduction, livelihood generation, skill development, infrastructure creation, and enhancement of human development indicators in SC-dominated areas.

Its broader objective is to enable inclusive growth by ensuring that historically disadvantaged communities have access to economic opportunities, quality infrastructure, education, and sustainable livelihoods.

PM-AJAY Portal: A Unified Digital Governance Platform

The newly launched PM-AJAY Portal serves as a central digital database and coordination platform integrating all components of the scheme. It aims to replace fragmented and paper-based processes with a transparent, technology-driven ecosystem.

A key feature of the portal is its comprehensive dashboard, which tracks socio-economic progress across more than 47,000 Scheduled Caste-majority villages and monitors the implementation of benefits reaching over 40 lakh beneficiaries. The dashboard provides real-time monitoring at the national, state, district, and local levels, facilitating data-driven decision-making and improved accountability.

Integration of the Three Components of PM-AJAY

The portal brings together all three major components of the scheme under a single digital architecture.

Adarsh Gram Component

Under this component, traditional paper-based planning will be replaced with digital Village Development Plans (VDPs). The progress of villages will be assessed through monitoring of 50 socio-economic indicatorsacross 10 development domains, enabling systematic tracking of development outcomes and identification of gaps.

Grant-in-Aid for Skilling and Employment

The portal functions as a comprehensive Management Information System (MIS) for this component. It tracks financial allocations, livelihood assistance, beneficiary registration, skill training programmes, placement outcomes, and employment generation activities. This will improve transparency in fund utilisation and facilitate better monitoring of livelihood interventions.

Hostel Component

The digital platform also supports the implementation of hostels for Scheduled Caste students in educational institutions. It enables online proposal submission, project monitoring, inspections, and verification through geo-tagged and time-stamped photographs, ensuring transparency in construction, renovation, and maintenance activities.

AJAY Mobile App: Extending Governance to the Last Mile

The AJAY Mobile App has been developed as a unified mobile platform that extends the functionalities of both the earlier PMAGY and PM-AJAY portals. The app enables stakeholders, field officials, and beneficiaries to access scheme-related services through a user-friendly mobile interface.

The app facilitates:

• Real-time reporting from the field.
• Mobile-based monitoring of development projects.
• Beneficiary-centric service delivery.
• Faster data collection and verification.
• Improved transparency and accountability.
• Strengthened digital governance at the grassroots level.

By enabling instant access to information and field-level updates, the app reduces administrative delays and enhances responsiveness.

Significance

The PM-AJAY Portal and AJAY Mobile App represent a major step towards digital inclusion, social justice, and evidence-based governance. By integrating planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation onto a single platform, the initiative is expected to improve scheme effectiveness, ensure better targeting of benefits, and strengthen the socio-economic empowerment of Scheduled Castes.

The initiative also aligns with the principles of Digital India, Minimum Government-Maximum Governance, and outcome-based public service delivery.