Banwari Lal, a resident of Rajasthan’s Sikar, has long waited to get married. But his wish can now come true with help from his friend Pankiya, who had promised to arrange the wedding if Banwari gets a share in official coffers – a reference to a government job.

“Who’s giving free rice?” “Who’s providing cattle insurance cover of Rs 40,000?” “Who is providing Rs 10 lakh accidental insurance?” “Who’s giving Rs 25 lakh health insurance?” “Who made 100 units of electricity free at home, and 2,000 units for agriculture?” Banwari asks Pankiya.  

“The (state) government,” responds Pankiya. Banwari chuckles. “So take it as confirmed that I also have a stake in the government treasury.”

But the marriage and the promise are just props, and the conversation just a parody video posted on Facebook by the two friends and comedians for a cash prize – under the Ashok Gehlot government’s month-long video contest to popularise the state’s welfare schemes. 

In the run-up to the Rajasthan assembly polls, the Congress government seems to have realised that social media is as significant as print, digital and broadcast platforms. In June, it had announced that it would give advertisements from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5 lakh to social media influencers.

Since the launch of the ‘Jan Samman, Jai Rajasthan’ scheme on July 7, more than 26,000 such videos have been uploaded on social media by common people, praising the Gehlot government – all to win cash prizes ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1 lakh. There are 103 winners each day, including 100 with a consolation prize. The list of awardees has so far been diverse, including students, a principal of a school for the hearing-impaired, a police officer in the chief minister’s office, a male nurse, and even a BJP supporter.

So far, two screening committees have selected 33 winners for the top three positions, and another 3,330 for the consolation prize. The entries of each day are screened for the positions. The top ranked video takes home Rs 1 lakh, while the runner up and the second-runner up win Rs 50,000 each.

While the BJP called the initiative “cash for votes”, the Congress said it was following Mahatma Gandhi’s footsteps in involving people to spread awareness.

‘Against freebies, but benefited from health insurance’

The video by Banwari Lal, who has around 3.79 lakh followers on Facebook, was adjudged the best on July 11. “We tried to convey the same message by showing that those who benefit from the welfare schemes also have a stake in the government treasure,” said the comic, for whom social media is the only source of income.

But as he received the prize money on July 19, he was miffed over the 30 percent tax dedication and about social media users poking at him. “Have you joined the Congress?” read one comment on the video, which he later removed from Instagram. A copy of it remains on Facebook as every contestant has to upload their video entry on at least two social media platforms, with the hashtag “#JanSammanJaiRajasthan”.

A Twitter user’s video stretched the adulatory by a notch. In the upload, a carefree youngster has pre-sleep thoughts: ration is free, power up to 100 units is free and there’s free health insurance. “What else do I need in this life? Let me have a good sleep. Even my father could not make me as happy as (chief minister) Ashok ji,” he tells himself. The video did not get any prize.

Neha Meena, an MBBS student from Jaipur, was among those who won the first prize. Her mother Deepa Meena, a government teacher, and father Prabhu Narayan, an inspector in Gehlot’s security apparatus, were seen gyrating in a video on a folk song eulogising various schemes. 

In the video, Prabhu Narayan sports traditional Rajasthani dhoti, kurta and safa (headgear) and Deepa dons a colourful pallu with a short veil. “I don’t keep a ghunghat at home. But since the video will be watched by many, it’s better to keep it before somebody from our society ticks us off, which would mean the end of our content creation... My husband mostly writes lyrics and we both dance,” she said. The Meenas, who have a total of 3.75 lakh followers on Instagram and Facebook, keep their lens on female foeticide, girl education and similar issues.

Meanwhile, from Jodhpur, a principal of a government-aided school chose to put together a special message. A group of five students at Aacharya Hasti Vishesh Avasiya Vidhyalaya, a boarding school for the hearing impaired, huddled together in the video to count the state government’s welfare schemes for students in sign language. The video won the first prize on July 15. 

“One of the schemes we talked about in the video was the cochlear implant (which improves hearing). The surgery costs around Rs 10-15 lakh. But in the video, students informed people that now it is included in the list of treatments under the Rs 25 lakh health insurance scheme,” the school principal Hemarani Gulati said, adding that she will use the prize money of Rs 70,000 to add facilities for the students at the school.

Meanwhile, Jaipur resident Kamlesh Choudhary, an otherwise devout BJP supporter, also put up a video on the state Congress government’s scheme. He emphasised that regardless of the party in power, good schemes should be popularised. “I am against freebies. Free this, free that! But the sketch in the video was about the health insurance scheme because I have benefitted from it. Health insurance is important as one bill can make a family bankrupt.” 

Some other videos featured an anguished housewife, who dreaded the hearth smoke but couldn’t afford gas cylinders; an ailing woman for whom medical expenses were too steep; and a couple that had run out of ration. All of them shared the trope of happy endings – expressing gratitude to the Gehlot government.  

Volunteer army on the ground

Besides the people-driven publicity, the state government has employed more than 2,000 Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitras or contractual volunteers to take the government schemes to the people, said officials. These individuals are also uploading similar videos (here and here) on social media.

“Each volunteer has two-three panchayats under them. They spread awareness about schemes,” said Sapna Shah, a public relations officer at the state government’s department of information and public relations.

“For example, if they come across Indira Rasoi beneficiaries, they record their reaction,” said Naresh Goyal, coordinator of the video contest. The state officials said the government is hiring 3,000 more volunteers.

Idea’s origin and implementation

Most officials credited Gehlot for the “one-of-a-kind” social media initiative. But one said the blueprint came from a secretary in Gehlot’s office. 

“When the chief minister was touring the Mehngai Rahat Camps (inflation relief camps, where people can register themselves for various schemes), he found that around 92 percent of households in the state have registered themselves for schemes at these camps. To bring the schemes’ benefits to the rest, he floated this idea,” said video contest coordinator Goyal, adding that the initiative will cost the state treasury Rs 1.25 crore. “It’s happening for the first time that instead of the government, it’s the people who are spreading awareness.”

Meanwhile, PR officer Shah explained the two-stage procedure to select winners. She said a 15-member committee of government officials first shortlists 10 for the top three positions, and around 120-150 entries for the 100 consolation awardees. This list is sent to a 10-member screening committee, comprising faculty members from Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication, she said. Shah is a jury member in the first state level committee.

The government had received more than 13,000 entries, each containing two videos, until July 20.

“The main criterion are that the video should be between 30 and 120 seconds; the content should be genuine and creative; the contestant should have Jan Aadhaar card; the video should be uploaded on at least two social media platforms and the contestant should use #JanSammanJaiRajasthan,” said Sushil Kulhari, joint secretary in the planning department, the nodal agency for the contest.

Opposition accuses of ‘cash for votes’

On being asked about the Gehlot government’s video content making waves on social media, BJP MP Kirdoi Lal Meena likened the contest to “cash for votes”. 

“It is aggrandisement (pralobhan). Through the video contest, the government is distributing money. It’s not even revadi (freebies). They are buying votes. It’s a criminal waste of public money,” Meena said.

Ram Singh Kaswan, general secretary of Rajasthan Congress, countered Meena by saying that not everyone is getting cash prizes. 

“Those who actively participate in the initiative deserve these cash awards because they are spreading awareness… Anybody or everybody is not getting them,” he said, adding that the initiative draws inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s theory that people should become the means to spread awareness.