Bihar State Disability Pension Scheme (Divyangjan Pension)

What is the Bihar Divyangjan Pension Yojana?

Bihar State Disability Pension Scheme: commonly called the Divyangjan Pension or, in older usage, Viklang Pension: is a social security pension of the Social Welfare Department, Government of Bihar. The scheme was created by the state to cover persons with disabilities who fall outside the centrally sponsored Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS), so that no certified person with a disability in Bihar is left without a monthly pension.

According to district administration pages of the Government of Bihar, the scheme requires a disability certificate of at least 40 per cent, sets no minimum or maximum age, and prescribes no upper income limit. Those three features together make it one of the widest social security pensions in the state.

The rate was revised sharply in 2025. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced on 21 June 2025 that social security pension for the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities would rise from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100 per month, effective from July 2025, covering more than 1.09 crore beneficiaries statewide. Payment is credited by Direct Benefit Transfer, with the state announcing a fixed payment cycle around the 10th of every month.

Who is eligible for the Bihar disability pension?

You can apply if:

• You are a resident of Bihar, or have resided in the state for the period the district administration specifies for pension applicants.
• You hold a disability certificate showing 40 per cent or more disability, issued by the authorised government medical board, or a UDID card.
• You hold a bank account seeded with Aadhaar so that DBT can reach you.
• You are not covered by IGNDPS, the central disability pension.

There is no age bar, an applicant may be a child or an elderly person, and no income ceiling is prescribed under this state scheme.

You are not eligible if:

• Your certified disability is below 40 per cent.
• You are already drawing another state social security pension, such as the old-age or widow pension. Two social security pensions cannot be drawn together.
• You are already receiving IGNDPS, since this scheme exists precisely to cover those the central scheme does not.
• You are not a resident of Bihar.
• You cannot produce a disability certificate from the competent medical board. A private doctor's letter does not substitute for it.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Bihar disability pension

1. Get the disability certificate first. Attend the disability assessment camp or the sadar hospital medical board in your district and obtain a certificate showing your percentage of disability, or register for a UDID card. Without this document the application cannot start.
2. Open or update an Aadhaar-seeded bank account. Take your Aadhaar to the branch and ask specifically for Aadhaar seeding for DBT, not merely Aadhaar as address proof. This single step prevents most later payment failures.
3. Collect the pension application form at the RTPS counter of your block office or panchayat sarkar bhawan, or use the online route on the state's service portal and the e-Labharthi system.
4. Fill the form with your name exactly as printed on Aadhaar, the certificate number and percentage of disability, the panchayat and ward, and the bank account number with IFSC code.
5. Attach the documents and submit at the RTPS counter, and collect the acknowledgement receipt with the application number. Keep it: every follow-up needs that number.
6. Let the verification chain complete. The application moves from the Mukhiya to the Block Development Officer and then to the District Social Welfare Officer, who sanctions the pension. This normally takes about 30 to 60 days.
7. Check the first credit in your passbook after the sanction, and thereafter around the 10th of each month.

How to check your Bihar pension payment status

The Social Welfare Department runs e-Labharthi at elabharthi.bihar.gov.in as the payment platform for the state's social security pensions, covering old-age, widow and disability pensions together. Beneficiary and payment status can be searched there by district, block and panchayat, or with the beneficiary identification number or Aadhaar number. The portal shows whether the case is sanctioned, whether e-KYC is pending, and which months have been paid.

Two practical checks are worth doing every few months. First, confirm that your e-KYC status shows complete on the portal — an incomplete e-KYC is the most common reason a sanctioned pension stops mid-year. Second, update the bank passbook to confirm the credit actually landed, because a sanctioned pension can still fail at the bank end if the account has gone dormant.

Why the Bihar disability pension stops or is rejected

• e-KYC not completed on e-Labharthi, freezing an otherwise valid pension.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or seeded to a different account than the one recorded, so the DBT bounces.
• Account dormant because of no transaction for a long period.
• Name mismatch between the Aadhaar record, the disability certificate and the bank record.
• Disability percentage below 40 on the certificate produced.
• Certificate from an unauthorised issuer rather than the government medical board.
• Another social security pension already drawn by the same person.
• Life certificate or annual verification not completed when the block asks for it.

The fix for most of these is at the bank counter and the RTPS counter, not at the district office. Get the KYC refreshed and the Aadhaar seeding redone, then ask the block social welfare clerk to re-push the payment for the missed months; arrears for a stopped-and-restored pension are generally released together.

Key dates and payment cycle

• 21 June 2025; Chief Minister announced the increase from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100 per month.
• July 2025: revised rate of Rs 1,100 took effect.
• Around the 10th of each month: announced payment date for social security pension credits.
• Applications are open all year. There is no annual window; a case can be filed at the RTPS counter any working day.

Help and grievance redressal

• Panchayat level: Mukhiya and the panchayat sarkar bhawan RTPS counter
• Block level: Block Development Officer and the block social welfare clerk
• District level: District Social Welfare Officer at the collectorate
• Portals: elabharthi.bihar.gov.in for payment status, serviceonline.bihar.gov.in for RTPS applications
• Department: Social Welfare Department, Government of Bihar

Applying for the Bihar disability pension is free at the RTPS counter, and the pension is credited only to the beneficiary's own Aadhaar-seeded account. No official or agent may charge a fee for sanctioning it, and no one from the department will ask for your OTP or your ATM PIN.