Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana, Himachal Pradesh

What is Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana?

Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana is a marriage-assistance scheme of the Government of Himachal Pradesh run by the Directorate of Women and Child Development. The directorate's description is specific: under the scheme the state government provides financial marriage assistance to the daughters of destitute women, widows, or families with an annual income of less than Rs 35,000.

Kanyadaan is the traditional term for the giving away of a daughter in marriage, and the scheme is sometimes referred to locally by the English rendering "CM Bestowing Plan", which is how it appears in some of the department's own listings. Both names refer to the same scheme.

The important thing to understand about Kanyadaan Yojana is what makes it different from its sibling. Himachal Pradesh runs two marriage grants for daughters side by side, and they are not interchangeable:

• Mukhya Mantri Shagun Yojana is keyed to the Below Poverty Line list and pays a stated Rs 31,000.
• Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana is keyed to destitution, widowhood, or an annual income below Rs 35,000, tested by an income certificate rather than by the BPL list.

A family that is genuinely poor but not on the BPL list falls through the gap in Shagun Yojana and is precisely the family Kanyadaan Yojana is meant to catch. That is the practical reason both schemes exist.

Who can get Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana?

Your daughter's marriage can be covered if:

• Her mother is a widow, or
• Her mother is a destitute woman, or
• Your family's annual income is below Rs 35,000, evidenced by a current income certificate, and
• Your family is a permanent resident of Himachal Pradesh, and
• The bride is 18 years of age or above on the date of marriage.

You are not eligible if:

• Your annual family income is Rs 35,000 or more and there is no widowhood or destitution ground. The income ceiling is a hard line, and an income certificate showing a higher figure ends the claim.
• The bride is under 18. A marriage below the legal age cannot be funded by the state, and the age proof requirement exists for that reason.
• The family is not domiciled in Himachal Pradesh.
• You are claiming for a widow's own re-marriage rather than a daughter's marriage. That is handled under the directorate's separate Widow Re-Marriage grant, under which the man must be over 21 and the woman over 18 at the time of marriage, and which asks for proof of the date of the first marriage as well as the date of re-marriage.

Families should also be aware that they are not expected to claim both marriage grants for the same wedding. Where both look possible on paper, ask the Child Development Project Officer which scheme your file should be entered under before submitting, rather than filing twice.

How much does Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana pay?

The Directorate of Women and Child Development publishes the scheme's purpose and its eligibility grounds on its state girl-child schemes page, but it does not publish the current grant rate there. Several unofficial websites quote figures for this scheme, and they do not agree with one another.

Rather than repeat an unverified number, this guide says plainly what is true: confirm the sanctioned amount with your Child Development Project Officer or Anganwadi worker before you plan around it. The CDPO office holds the current sanction rate for the block and will tell you on request. If a family needs a figure it can rely on today, Mukhya Mantri Shagun Yojana's Rs 31,000 is the published number, and for a BPL family that is often the relevant scheme anyway.

The grant, whatever the current rate, is a one-time payment made by Direct Benefit Transfer into the bank account recorded on the application. It is not an instalment benefit and it is not paid annually.

What documents are required?

The income certificate is where most Kanyadaan files succeed or fail. It has to be current, it has to be issued by the competent revenue authority, and the figure on it has to be below Rs 35,000. An old certificate, or one issued for a different purpose with a rounded-up figure, will be sent back.

How to apply for Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana

Online, through the department portal

1. Open wcd.hp.gov.in and go to the Apply section.
2. Sign in through the HimAccess citizen login, which is the state single sign-on used across Himachal Pradesh's citizen services.
3. Select Mukhya Mantri Kanyadaan Yojana from the scheme list, and the sub-scheme if one is shown.
4. Complete the five steps of the form: Basic Form, Education Qualification, Other Details, Document Upload and Declaration. The Other Details step is where the proposed marriage date and the marriage district, block, panchayat and village are entered.
5. Upload the income certificate, age proof, bonafide certificate, panchayat marriage-date certificate and bank passbook. The portal supports DigiLocker, so documents already linked there can be pulled in with your consent instead of being scanned.
6. Submit the declaration and note down the application number.

Offline, through the block office

1. Ask your Anganwadi worker or the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) office for your block for the Kanyadaan Yojana form.
2. Fill the form and attach self-attested copies of the income certificate, the widowhood or destitution proof where relevant, the bride's age proof, the bonafide Himachali certificate, the panchayat certificate of the proposed marriage date, and the bank passbook.
3. Submit the complete file to the CDPO office and collect a dated acknowledgement.
4. The CDPO verifies the income certificate and the age proof and sanctions the case, after which the grant is transferred to the bank account on the form.

How to check your Kanyadaan Yojana application status

1. Sign in to wcd.hp.gov.in with the HimAccess credentials used to apply and open the citizen dashboard, which lists each application and its current stage.
2. For offline applications, follow up at the CDPO office quoting the acknowledgement number.
3. Where the dashboard shows the case sanctioned but nothing has reached the account, take the passbook to the bank branch. A failed Direct Benefit Transfer is almost always an Aadhaar seeding or name-mismatch issue rather than a departmental delay.

Why Kanyadaan Yojana applications get rejected

• Income certificate above the Rs 35,000 ceiling, or an income certificate that has expired.
• No income certificate at all, with the family assuming a BPL card would serve. It will not, because Kanyadaan Yojana tests income rather than BPL status.
• Bride under 18 on the date of marriage.
• Widowhood or destitution claimed but not documented, where the income figure alone would not have qualified.
• Panchayat certificate of the marriage date missing, leaving the department unable to date the claim.
• Duplicate claim filed under both Kanyadaan Yojana and Shagun Yojana for the same wedding.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so the sanction issues but the transfer fails.

In each case the fix is to correct the single deficient document and resubmit through the same CDPO office. Ask the office to record the deficiency on your acknowledgement so that the resubmission is treated as a continuation.

Where to raise a grievance

Grievances travel the same route as the application: the Anganwadi worker, then the Child Development Project Officer for the block, then the District Programme Officer, and finally the Directorate of Women and Child Development, Himachal Pradesh. Contact details for the directorate are published at wcd.hp.gov.in.

There is no fee at any stage. Neither the Anganwadi worker nor the panchayat secretary nor any agent is authorised to charge for filing, forwarding or sanctioning a Kanyadaan Yojana application.