J&K Financial Assistance Scheme for COVID-Affected Families

What is the J&K financial assistance scheme for COVID-affected families?

J&K Financial Assistance Scheme for COVID-Affected Families is described in press coverage as a Jammu and Kashmir government measure to support families that lost their sole earning member to COVID-19. This guide has to be blunt about what could and could not be confirmed, because getting this wrong costs a bereaved family time it does not have.

What could not be verified on an official source:

• No scheme by this name appears among the orders, circulars and notifications published by the Directorate of Social Welfare Kashmir. The notices listed there cover the Integrated Social Security Scheme Rules 2022, the restructured State Marriage Assistance Scheme for Poor Girls, grant-in-aid rules for NGOs, pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for OBC, EBC, PCP and DNT students, the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, and the amendment extending the Integrated Social Security Scheme to the transgender community. A COVID assistance scheme is not among them.
• No corresponding government order was found on the General Administration Department portal.
• No benefit amount, duration, income ceiling or deadline is published on any accessible Jammu and Kashmir government source.

For that reason this page quotes no rupee figure and no deadline. If you have been told a specific amount by anyone, ask to see the government order number and date before acting on it.

Who would be eligible, and who cannot claim?

The intended group, on the description available, is a family in Jammu and Kashmir whose sole earning member died of COVID-19. In practice, a District Social Welfare Officer assessing such a case would look for:

• A registered death certificate of the earning member.
• A medical record establishing COVID-19 as the cause of death.
• Domicile of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Evidence that the deceased was in fact the sole earner, and that no other member of the household has a regular income.

Who cannot claim:

• A family where another member has a regular income would not fit the description of losing its sole earning member.
• A family that cannot document the cause of death as COVID-19 cannot be assessed under a COVID-specific head, though it may still qualify under the Integrated Social Security Scheme.
• A person already drawing a pension or monthly financial assistance from another source is not eligible under the Social Welfare Department's standing rules, and must swear an affidavit before a Judicial Magistrate 1st Class to that effect.
• Anyone outside Jammu and Kashmir cannot claim from the UT's Social Welfare Department.

How to apply, or find out whether you can

1. Visit or call your District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO). Every district publishes a direct phone number and email on socialwelfarekashmir.jk.gov.in. Ask plainly whether a COVID-specific assistance scheme is open, and if so, for the government order number and date.
2. If the answer is no, ask the same officer to assess your case under the Integrated Social Security Scheme, which is live, has published rules and pays Rs 1,000 per month. A widow who has not remarried and holds a PHH or AAY ration card is eligible under its widow pension category.
3. Prepare the documents: death certificate, cause-of-death record, domicile certificate, ration card, Aadhaar card, Aadhaar-linked bank passbook and the affidavit before a Judicial Magistrate 1st Class stating you draw no other pension.
4. File the Integrated Social Security Scheme application online at jk.gov.in/jkeservices. It reaches your Tehsil Social Welfare Officer, who must verify and recommend it within 15 days, or revert it to you if something is missing.
5. Track it through the District Social Welfare Officer, who has 15 days to forward eligible cases, and then the Director Social Welfare, who has 15 days to sanction or reject.
6. If a child in the family has been orphaned, ask the DSWO or the District Child Protection Unit to register the case under the central PM CARES for Children scheme, and ask which scheme the case has been recorded under.

Where to get an authoritative answer

• Directorate of Social Welfare, Kashmir: Block-A, Old Secretariat, Srinagar. Phone 0194-2479645, fax 0194-2473761, email dirswkmr-jk[at]nic[dot]in.
• District Social Welfare Officers, Srinagar 0194-2478817, Ganderbal 0194-2416364, Budgam 01951-256370, Baramulla 01952-235066, Bandipora 01957-225360, Kupwara 01955-252433, Pulwama 01933-241251, Kulgam 01933-261896, Anantnag 01932-227338, Shopian 01931-260519.
• Orders and circulars — the "More Orders & Circulars" page on socialwelfarekashmir.jk.gov.in is where a new scheme order would appear.
• CM Grievance Cell: jkgrievance.in, if a district office will not give you a clear written answer.

No fee is payable for any Social Welfare Department application in Jammu and Kashmir, and no agent can obtain a sanction on your behalf. If someone offers to "get the COVID assistance released" for money, that is a fraud, particularly given that no such scheme could be traced in the department's published record.