Chief Minister's Social Security Scheme (Arunachal Pradesh)

What is the Chief Minister's Social Security Scheme?

The Chief Minister's Social Security Scheme is the Government of Arunachal Pradesh's own monthly pension programme, administered by the Department of Social Justice, Empowerment & Tribal Affairs. The scheme sits alongside the centrally sponsored National Social Assistance Programme pensions and is funded from the state budget, which is why its rates are higher than the central minimums and why the state Cabinet can revise them on its own.

The scheme runs three pension components:

• Old-age pension, for elderly residents without adequate means of support.
• Widow pension, for widows without an earning member to depend on.
• Disability pension, for persons with disabilities, often referred to in state announcements as the Chief Minister's Disability Pension.

Two Cabinet decisions in 2025 reshaped the scheme substantially. In April 2025 the Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Pema Khandu, raised all three pension components by Rs 300 a month and lowered the widow pension age from 40 years to 18 years. In August 2025 the Cabinet went further on disability: it cut the minimum disability threshold from 70% to 40% and removed the minimum age requirement altogether for the disability category. Together these changes widened the pool of eligible Divyangjan very considerably, because a 40% threshold captures a far larger population than a 70% one.

According to the Cabinet decision that raised the rates, the enhancement covers more than 50,000 beneficiaries across Arunachal Pradesh and costs the state about Rs 18.50 crore a year in additional expenditure.

How much pension does the scheme pay?

Each of these figures reflects the Rs 300 monthly increase approved in April 2025. The pension is credited monthly to the beneficiary's own bank account through Direct Benefit Transfer. There is no lump sum, no arrears entitlement for the period before sanction, and no annual re-application, but districts do run periodic life-certificate and existence verification for pensioners, and a missed verification will stop the credit.

The disability pension of Rs 2,000 a month is the component that changed most in 2025. A person assessed at, say, 45% locomotor disability was outside the scheme entirely under the old 70% rule and is inside it now. Likewise a child with a disability, previously excluded by the minimum-age floor, can be sanctioned a pension after the floor was removed.

Who is eligible for the Chief Minister's Social Security Scheme?

You can be sanctioned a pension if you are:

• A permanent resident of Arunachal Pradesh, holding a Permanent Residence Certificate or a Scheduled Tribe certificate for the state.
• Aged 60 or above and without adequate means of support, for the old-age category. Beneficiaries aged 80 and above are moved to the higher rate.
• A widow aged 18 or above with no adequate earning member in the household, for the widow category.
• A person with at least 40% disability, certified by the competent medical authority, at any age, for the disability category.
• The holder of a bank account in your own name, seeded with Aadhaar, so the monthly credit can reach you.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You are not a permanent resident of Arunachal Pradesh and hold neither a PRC nor a state Scheduled Tribe certificate.
• You already draw a government service pension or family pension, or another state or central social security pension for the same category. The scheme is not meant to be stacked on an existing pension.
• Your disability is assessed below 40%. The revised threshold; or you hold no valid disability certificate from a competent medical authority.
• Your household has an adequate earning member supporting you, so you do not meet the destitution test the district office applies.
• You are a widow who has remarried. Remarriage ends the widow pension.
• The applicant has died; a pension is personal and is not transferable to heirs, and any credits after death are recovered.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Chief Minister's Social Security Scheme

The scheme is applied for offline, at district level. There is no fee.

1. Go to your district office. Visit the District Social Welfare Officer under the Department of Social Justice, Empowerment & Tribal Affairs, or the Deputy Commissioner's office of your district, and ask for the Chief Minister's Social Security Scheme application form. State clearly which of the three categories — old age, widow or disability. You are applying under, because the form and the supporting documents differ.
2. Assemble the category-specific proof. For old age, an age proof. For widow, the husband's death certificate and a widowhood certificate. For disability, a disability certificate from the competent medical authority showing 40% or more.
3. Attach the common documents, Permanent Residence Certificate or ST certificate, Aadhaar, bank passbook copy, income or no-means certificate and passport photographs.
4. Get the form countersigned locally. District offices normally require the form to be verified by the Gaon Burah, the village or circle authority, or the Circle Officer, confirming residence and the applicant's circumstances.
5. Submit the completed file at the District Social Welfare Officer's office and ask for a receipt or diary number. Without that number a follow-up is very hard.
6. Wait for the district sanctioning authority to place the case, verify it and sanction the pension. Once sanctioned, the monthly credit begins by DBT to the account you gave.

If you were rejected earlier under the disability category because your assessed disability was between 40% and 69%, or because you were below the old minimum age, file a fresh application. The August 2025 Cabinet revision changed the rule, and an old rejection under the previous rule does not bar a new claim.

How to check your pension status

There is no public online status tracker for the Chief Minister's Social Security Scheme. Status is checked in these ways:

1. At the District Social Welfare Officer's office, quoting the receipt or diary number you were given at submission.
2. At your bank, by checking the passbook or account statement for the monthly DBT credit and the narration attached to it.
3. Through the Deputy Commissioner's office of the district, which holds the sanctioned pensioner lists for the district.

If the pension was sanctioned but no credit has arrived, the problem is almost always at the bank end, a dormant account, a lapsed KYC, or an Aadhaar seeding that has broken. Fix that with the bank first before returning to the welfare office.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Disability below 40%, or a certificate issued by an authority that is not competent to certify. Get re-assessed at the district medical board.
• No Permanent Residence Certificate or ST certificate. This is a hard requirement; apply to the Deputy Commissioner's office for the certificate before re-filing the pension form.
• Already drawing another pension. A service or family pension in the same name will surface in verification.
• Bank account not in the applicant's own name, or a joint account with a son or daughter. Open a single account in the beneficiary's own name.
• Name or date-of-birth mismatch across Aadhaar, PRC and the bank record. Correct the mismatch at source; a district office cannot overwrite it.
• Age proof not accepted. Where no birth record exists, a medical age certificate from the Chief Medical Officer is the usual fallback.
• Incomplete local verification, where the Gaon Burah or Circle Officer attestation is missing.

Ask for the reason for rejection in writing. Most rejections here are documentary, and a documented reason is what you need to fix the file and re-submit rather than start over blind.

Key dates

• April 2025, state Cabinet raises all three pension components by Rs 300 a month and lowers the widow pension age from 40 years to 18 years. Old age 60 to 79 goes to Rs 1,600, old age 80-plus to Rs 1,800, widow and disability to Rs 2,000. Over 50,000 beneficiaries covered, at about Rs 18.50 crore a year.
• August 2025, state Cabinet cuts the disability threshold from 70% to 40% and removes the minimum age requirement for the disability pension.

Where to raise a grievance

1. District Social Welfare Officer, Department of Social Justice, Empowerment & Tribal Affairs, in your district, the first stop for sanction, payment and verification problems.
2. Deputy Commissioner of the district, where the district welfare office does not resolve the matter.
3. Directorate / Department of Social Justice, Empowerment & Tribal Affairs, Government of Arunachal Pradesh, Itanagar, for policy questions and appeals the district cannot settle.

Application under the Chief Minister's Social Security Scheme is free. No agent, middleman or official may charge a fee for the form, for the sanction or for releasing a monthly credit, and no official will ask you for an OTP on your Aadhaar-linked mobile number.