Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana

What is Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana?

Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana is a Himachal Pradesh state scheme that gives annual financial assistance to helpless mothers for the upbringing of their children. The scheme is run by the Directorate of Women and Child Development under the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, and it is delivered as a listed service on the Himachal Pradesh e-District portal. It is frequently written as Mother Teresa Asahay Matri Sambal Yojana or, in Hindi, as Mother Teresa Asahay Matri Sambal Yojna.

Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana targets a narrow but real gap. A widow or deserted mother in a hill village often has neither a pension entitlement in her own right nor any earning member in the household, and the immediate cost she cannot meet is the cost of keeping her children fed, clothed and in school. The scheme therefore pays a fixed sum per child per year, for a maximum of two children, into the mother's own bank account.

The per-child rate has been revised upward over the life of the scheme. The Himachal Pradesh government announced an increase in the assistance for the upbringing of two children from Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000 per child per year. Several older directories still list earlier and lower figures, which is why the rate should always be confirmed with the District Programme Officer before an applicant plans around it.

Who is eligible for Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana?

You can receive the assistance if:

• You are a mother who is helpless in bringing up her children. A widow, a destitute woman, a divorced woman or a woman abandoned by her husband.
• Your husband has been missing for more than two years, which is expressly covered.
• You are a permanent resident of Himachal Pradesh and can produce a Bonafide Himachali certificate.
• Your household holds a BPL certificate, which the e-District service page lists among the required documents.
• Your annual income is within the ceiling applied by the department, commonly published as Rs 35,000 a year.
• You have children whose age can be proved by a birth certificate or school record.

You are not eligible if:

• You are a married woman living with an earning husband. The scheme is for women without spousal support.
• You cannot produce the Panchayat resolution recommending you. This is a named requirement on the official service page, not an optional formality.
• Your income exceeds the ceiling in force, or you cannot obtain a BPL certificate.
• You are not a permanent resident of Himachal Pradesh.
• You are claiming for a third or subsequent child. Only two children per mother are covered.
• The child in question is not yours or is not in your care. Where a child is an orphan in someone else's care, the correct route is Mukhyamantri Sukh Ashray Yojana rather than this scheme.

What documents are required?

Where a child is an orphan in the applicant's care, the e-District page also lists the parental death certificate among the documents.

How to apply for Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana

1. Get the Panchayat resolution first. Attend the Gram Sabha or approach the Panchayat Secretary and have a resolution passed recommending you as a beneficiary. Without it the application will not be processed, whichever route you use.
2. Collect the supporting certificates; Bonafide Himachali certificate, BPL certificate, income certificate from the Tehsildar, the children's birth proof, and the death certificate or police report that applies to your case.
3. Open the e-District portal at edistrict.hp.gov.in, register or log in with your mobile number, and search for the service by name in the services list.
4. Fill in the online application form with your personal details, category, the names and dates of birth of the children being claimed, annual income and your bank account number with IFSC code.
5. Upload the scanned documents, then move to the payment step. All fees for this service — application fee, processing fee and LMK/Sugam user charges: are shown as zero, so nothing is payable.
6. Download the acknowledgement receipt and save the application reference number.
7. Offline alternative: submit the same filled form with the Panchayat resolution and documents at your Gram Panchayat, the Anganwadi centre or the office of the Child Development Project Officer of your block, and take a written diary number.

Where you cannot use a computer, the same online application can be filed at a Lok Mitra Kendra (LMK) or Sugam centre. Because the service carries zero user charges, no fee should be collected there either.

How much is paid, and how?

Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana pays a fixed sum per child per annum, for up to two children. The state raised the per-child rate to Rs 6,000 a year from an earlier Rs 4,000, so a mother with two eligible children receives assistance for both. Payment is made by transfer into the mother's Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

The assistance is annual, not monthly, and it is released as budget is allotted to the district. It is possible for a year's payment to arrive later than expected without the sanction having been withdrawn. Ask the District Programme Officer whether the delay is at sanction stage or at payment stage.

How do you check the status of your application?

• Online: log in to edistrict.hp.gov.in with the account used to file the application and open the application-status option, using the reference number on your acknowledgement receipt.
• At the block: ask the Child Development Project Officer whether the case has been verified and recommended.
• At the district: ask the District Programme Officer (ICDS) whether sanction and payment have been issued.

Keep the acknowledgement receipt. A file cannot be traced quickly without either the online reference number or the offline diary number.

Why do applications get rejected, and how do you fix it?

• No Panchayat resolution. This is the most frequent reason. Get the item placed on the Gram Sabha agenda and obtain a certified copy of the resolution.
• Income certificate above the ceiling or expired. Income certificates carry a limited validity; obtain a fresh one from the Tehsildar.
• No BPL certificate, where the household has dropped out of the BPL list at the last revision. Raise the exclusion in the Gram Sabha first.
• Child's age not proved. Where no birth certificate exists, ask the CDPO in writing what alternative record will be accepted.
• Claim for more than two children. Only two children are covered; name the two you wish to claim for at the time of application.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded or dormant, causing the transfer to fail after sanction.
• Name spelling mismatch across Aadhaar, the bank passbook and the certificates. Align these before resubmitting.

Where can you get help or file a grievance?

• Directorate of Women and Child Development, Himachal Pradesh, Behind Himland Hotel, Shimla; 0177-2629763, wcd-hp@nic.in.
• District Programme Officer (ICDS) at the district headquarters, for sanction and payment grievances.
• Child Development Project Officer of your block, for verification-stage problems.
• e-District helpdesk through edistrict.hp.gov.in, for portal, login and upload failures.

Mother Teresa Asahaya Matri Sambal Yojana carries no fee at any stage. The official service page records the application fee, processing fee and user charges as zero. If a centre operator or an agent asks for payment, report it to the District Programme Officer or the Deputy Commissioner in writing.