Chief Minister's Covid-19 Widows Support Scheme, Assam

What is the Chief Minister's Covid-19 Widows Support Scheme?

The Chief Minister's Covid-19 Widows Support Scheme is a Government of Assam relief measure that pays a one-time sum of Rs 2.5 lakh to a woman whose husband died of Covid-19, provided the family's annual income is below Rs 5 lakh. Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma launched it in 2021, at a function where cheques were handed over to 176 eligible beneficiaries drawn from eight districts.

The Chief Minister's Office describes the scheme's purpose as providing socio-economic support to wives who lost their husbands to Covid-19. That framing matters. The pandemic did something specific to Assam's household economics: it removed, in a matter of weeks, the single earning member from thousands of families where the wife had no independent income, no property in her own name and often no immediate access to the household's bank accounts. A widow pension of a few hundred rupees a month does not bridge that gap. A single payment of Rs 2.5 lakh is meant to give the family a base: to clear the debt taken for hospital treatment, to keep children in school, or to put capital behind a small livelihood.

Assam recorded roughly two thousand women widowed by Covid-19, and around 874 beneficiaries were identified under the scheme in its initial phase.

Who is eligible for the Covid-19 Widows Support Scheme and who is not?

The scheme has two hard tests and both must be met.

Eligible:

• The claimant must be the widow of the deceased, a woman whose husband has died.
• The husband must have been a Covid-19 positive patient at the time of death, and that must be certified by the State-Level Covid Death Audit Board. This is the defining condition of the scheme, not an optional formality.
• The annual family income must be less than Rs 5 lakh.
• The family must be resident in Assam.

Assam's welfare schemes are not treated as mutually exclusive here. Beneficiaries of the Orunodoi scheme and of the state widow pension are expressly also eligible for this one-time assistance, so a woman already drawing Rs 1,250 a month under Orunodoi does not forfeit the Rs 2.5 lakh.

Who cannot apply / is not eligible:

• Families where the death was not certified by the State-Level Covid Death Audit Board as a Covid-19 death are not eligible, even where the household is certain of the cause. A hospital discharge note or a positive test alone was not treated as sufficient; the Board's certification is the test.
• Families with an annual income of Rs 5 lakh or more cannot apply, since the scheme was deliberately limited to low-income households.
• A widower whose wife died of Covid-19 is not covered, the scheme is framed around widows only.
• Parents, siblings or adult children of a deceased Covid patient are not the beneficiaries under this scheme; the payment goes to the widow.
• Families resident outside Assam are not covered.
• Children orphaned by Covid-19 are covered by a different scheme, the Chief Minister's Shishu Seva Scheme, and not by this one.

How much is paid and how?

Rs 2.5 lakh, one time. There is no instalment structure, no monthly component and no renewal. At the launch event the assistance was handed over by cheque to identified beneficiaries; subsequent disbursement has been through the district administration to the widow's own account.

The amount does not vary with the number of dependent children, the widow's age, or the district. It is a flat figure for every eligible beneficiary.

What documents are required?

• Death certificate of the husband, showing Covid-19 as the cause.
• Certification by the State-Level Covid Death Audit Board confirming the deceased was Covid-19 positive at the time of death.
• Income certificate from the Circle Officer or competent revenue authority showing annual family income below Rs 5 lakh.
• Proof of marriage or relationship; ration card entry, voter records, or a Gaon Panchayat or ward certificate.
• Aadhaar card of the widow.
• Bank passbook of the widow's own account.
• Residence proof in Assam.

There is no fee for the application or for any of the supporting certificates issued by the revenue authorities beyond the statutory charges.

How to apply for the Chief Minister's Covid-19 Widows Support Scheme

There is no online portal for this scheme. Beneficiaries were identified largely from Covid-19 death audit records held by the health administration, and claims are processed offline through the district administration. If you have an unsettled claim, this is the route:

1. Obtain the death audit certification. Approach the district health authority, the Joint Director of Health Services or the district Covid nodal officer — with the hospital records, RT-PCR or RAT report and the death certificate, and ask for the death to be recorded and certified by the State-Level Covid Death Audit Board. Without this, no other step advances.
2. Get the income certificate. Apply to the Circle Officer for an income certificate showing annual family income below Rs 5 lakh. This certificate is itself a notified public service in Assam and can be applied for through the Sewa Setu portal at sewasetu.assam.gov.in, at a Public Facilitation Centre or at a Common Service Centre.
3. Assemble the claim file. Put together the death certificate, the death audit certification, the income certificate, marriage or relationship proof, your Aadhaar, your bank passbook and residence proof.
4. Submit to the Deputy Commissioner's office. File the claim with the office of the Deputy Commissioner of your district, which is the sanctioning authority for the district's beneficiary list. Ask for a written acknowledgement with a reference number and keep it.
5. Allow verification. District staff verify the death certification, the income figure and the identity of the claimant against the records.
6. Confirm the credit. Once sanctioned, the assistance is released to the widow. Check the account recorded in your claim file, and keep the acknowledgement in case the payment does not arrive.

If you are unsure where to begin in your district, the Circle Office and the Deputy Commissioner's public grievance cell are the correct first contacts.

Why do claims under this scheme fail?

The failure modes are narrow because the eligibility test is narrow:

• No death audit board certification. By a large margin the most common reason. The family knows the death was from Covid-19, but it was never placed before the Board; often because the death happened at home or at a private facility during the peak of a wave. The remedy is to take the medical records to the district health authority.
• Cause of death recorded as something else. Where comorbidities were entered as the primary cause and Covid-19 was not recorded, the Board's certification becomes difficult. Hospital records and test reports are the evidence to produce.
• Income certificate above Rs 5 lakh. The certificate reflects family income, not the widow's income alone, and a household with a working adult son can cross the threshold.
• Bank account or name mismatch between the Aadhaar, the claim and the passbook.
• Claim filed by the wrong person. A parent or sibling filing on behalf of the estate rather than the widow filing in her own name.
• The death does not fall within the pandemic period the scheme addresses.

What else can a Covid-widowed family in Assam claim?

The Rs 2.5 lakh is a one-time payment and does not replace ongoing support. Families should separately check:

• Orunodoi, the Government of Assam's household assistance scheme paying a monthly sum, Rs 1,250 a month as described on the Chief Minister's schemes page, to eligible women-headed households.
• The state widow pension, which runs in parallel and is not blocked by receipt of this one-time assistance.
• The Chief Minister's Shishu Seva Scheme, for children who lost parents to Covid-19.
• Chief Minister's Atmanirbhar Asom Abhijan, which provides Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh in financial assistance to youth entrepreneurs, relevant where an adult child in the family wants to start a livelihood.

Where do you complain if the assistance was not paid?

Escalate in this order:

1. The Deputy Commissioner's office of your district, quoting the acknowledgement reference of your claim, this is the sanctioning authority and the correct first stop.
2. The district health authority where the obstacle is the missing Covid death audit certification rather than the claim file itself.
3. The Chief Minister's public grievance cell, since the scheme is administered from the Chief Minister's Office and listed at cm.assam.gov.in/schemes.

Where the delay is in a supporting certificate, the income certificate, the death certificate, a legal heir certificate, that is a notified public service and the Assam Right to Public Services route applies: a first appeal within 30 days, tracked through Sewa Setu at sewasetu.assam.gov.in, toll-free 1800-345-3574. That helpline is for Sewa Setu service delivery in general; the Government of Assam does not publish a dedicated helpline number for the Chief Minister's Covid-19 Widows Support Scheme.