Mythri Yojane (Karnataka Transgender Pension)

What is Mythri Yojane?

Mythri Yojane is a monthly social security pension of the Government of Karnataka for transgender and gender-minority persons, administered by the Directorate of Social Security and Pensions under the Revenue Department. The scheme was created by Government Order RD 94 DSP 2013 dated 1 August 2013, and the directorate records it as operating with effect from 5 August 2014.

According to the Directorate of Social Security and Pensions, Mythri now pays Rs 1,200 per month, raised from the earlier sanctioned amount of Rs 800. The pension goes directly into the beneficiary's own bank or post office account. Older listings on Karnataka's Seva Sindhu portal still carry the original figure of Rs 500 a month from the scheme's first years. The directorate's own page is the current authority.

The scheme's own text covers gender minorities described as hijras, kothis, jogappas and other transgender persons, and the name is also written in Kannada as Mythri Yojane and transliterated by applicants as Maitri. Mythri sits alongside the directorate's other targeted pensions, such as Manaswini for unmarried and divorced women aged 40 to 64, which uses the same Rs 32,000 income ceiling and the same application counter.

Why the scheme exists

• Transgender persons in Karnataka frequently fall outside family support systems and outside formal employment, so ordinary old-age and widow pensions never reach them.
• A guaranteed monthly amount, however modest, gives a floor of income that does not depend on begging or on sex work.
• Routing payment through a bank or post office account brings the beneficiary into the formal financial system, which matters for ration, housing and health entitlements later.

Who is eligible for the Mythri pension?

You can be sanctioned a Mythri pension if:

• You are a transgender or gender-minority person residing in Karnataka.
• You are between 25 and 64 years of age.
• Your annual family income is below Rs 32,000, the ceiling the directorate applies in both rural and urban areas.
• You can produce an identification or membership certificate from a recognised transgender community organisation, the proof named in the scheme's own document list, alongside a transgender identity certificate where you hold one.
• You have a bank or post office account in your own name.

You are not eligible if:

• You are below 25 or above 64 years old.
• Your annual family income is Rs 32,000 or more.
• You are already drawing another state pension, old age pension, widow pension, disability allowance or any similar social security pension. Mythri explicitly excludes double pensions.
• You are not a resident of Karnataka, since the application is filed and verified in your taluk of residence.

The exclusion for other pensions is the condition that surprises applicants most often. It is not a penalty; the state's rule is simply one social security pension per person, and an applicant who is already on the old age pension will be rejected on that ground alone.

What documents are needed for Mythri Yojane?

Bring originals for verification and self-attested photocopies for the file. If your name or gender marker differs across documents, get that corrected first, a mismatch between the Aadhaar record and the bank account is the commonest cause of a sanctioned pension that never actually credits.

How to apply for the Mythri pension in Karnataka

1. Collect the pension application form at the Atalji Janasnehi Kendra (Nadakacheri) in the taluk where you live, or from the Seva Sindhu listing for the Mythri service.
2. Obtain your income proof. Use your BPL ration card if you hold one, or apply to the Tahsildar's office for an income certificate showing annual family income below Rs 32,000.
3. Obtain the community certificate from a recognised transgender organisation, and carry your transgender identity certificate if you have one.
4. Open or confirm a bank or post office account in your own name and get it Aadhaar-seeded, since the pension is paid into that account.
5. Submit the completed form with the income proof, community certificate, address proof, age proof, Aadhaar copy, passbook copy and photograph at the Atalji Janasnehi Kendra counter.
6. Collect the acknowledgement and keep the application number. Karnataka's citizen service listing shows a delivery timeline of about 45 days for this class of pension.
7. Follow up with the Tahsildar's office, the sanctioning authority, if you have heard nothing after the stated period.

There is no fee charged by the government for the application itself. A small notified service charge may be collected at a citizen service counter, and nothing beyond that is payable to anyone.

How to check the status of a Mythri pension

Karnataka's Directorate of Social Security and Pensions maintains the pension records for all its schemes on the DSSP system, and the taluk office can look up a case by application number. In practice there are three places to check:

1. The Atalji Janasnehi Kendra where you filed, using your acknowledgement number.
2. The Tahsildar's office, which sanctions the pension and holds the order.
3. Your bank or post office passbook, once sanctioned, to confirm the monthly credit is arriving.

If the sanction order exists but no money has arrived, the problem is almost always at the account end. A dormant account, an account not seeded with Aadhaar, or a name mismatch — rather than at the sanction end.

Why Mythri applications get rejected

• Income above Rs 32,000 a year on the certificate produced.
• Age outside the 25 to 64 band on the age proof.
• An existing pension in the applicant's name under another scheme, which the system detects on the Aadhaar number.
• Missing community or identity certification, leaving the taluk office without the document the scheme's list requires.
• Bank account in someone else's name, or a joint account where the applicant is not the primary holder.
• Address proof from a different taluk than the one where the application was filed.

Most of these are correctable. Fix the document and refile at the same counter: Mythri has no closing date, so a refiled application is treated on its merits.

Where to raise a grievance

Grievances on a Mythri pension go first to the Tahsildar of your taluk as the sanctioning authority, then to the Assistant Commissioner of the sub-division and the Deputy Commissioner of the district, who heads revenue administration including social security pensions. The Directorate of Social Security and Pensions publishes scheme details and district contacts at dssp.karnataka.gov.in.

For issues that go beyond the pension: identity certificates, harassment, housing or health access. The district Transgender Welfare Board and the Department of Women and Child Development are the relevant offices, and community organisations that already issue the certificate Mythri requires are usually the fastest way to reach them.

No official will ask you for an OTP, and no middleman can get a Mythri pension sanctioned faster for a payment.