Union Territory of Lakshadweep Pension Scheme for Abandoned Ladies/Destitute

What is the Lakshadweep pension for abandoned ladies and destitutes?

Union Territory of Lakshadweep Pension Scheme for Abandoned Ladies/Destitute is a monthly social security pension of the Department of Social Welfare and Tribal Affairs, Lakshadweep Administration. It supports women of the islands who have been abandoned by their husbands or divorced, who have not remarried, and who have no stable source of income to fall back on.

The scheme recognises a specific vulnerability. In a small island society with a narrow job market, fishing, coconut and coir work, tourism, and government employment, a woman who loses the household's earning member through desertion or divorce often has no independent income at all, and no realistic way to move elsewhere for work. The pension is not a large sum, but it is predictable, monthly and paid straight into her own account, which matters more than the headline figure when there is nothing else coming in.

Lakshadweep runs three Administration-funded pensions through this one department: this scheme, the pension for old age persons, and the pension for specially abled persons. All three are applied for on the island where the applicant lives, and all three are sanctioned centrally at Kavaratti.

Who is eligible for this pension?

You can receive this pension if:

• You are a woman native to the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, holding a nativity or residence certificate from the Sub-Divisional Officer or Deputy Collector of your island.
• You have been abandoned or deserted by your husband, or are divorced, and can support that with a divorce decree, a recorded talaq, or a certificate of desertion or destitution from the competent local authority.
• You have not remarried. This is a continuing condition, checked at verification and again at periodic re-verification.
• You have no stable source of income: no salary, no service pension, no regular business or property income, supported by an income certificate.
• You live on one of the 10 inhabited islands and hold an active bank account in your own name.

You are not eligible if:

• You are not a native of Lakshadweep.
• You have remarried, or are living with your husband. A subsisting marriage takes the case outside the scheme.
• You have a stable income, whether from employment, a service pension, a business, a boat, or rented property.
• You are already drawing another Administration social security pension for the same period. The pensions are not paid together.
• You cannot produce any acceptable proof of divorce, desertion or destitution. A bare statement without documentary or local-authority support is not enough.

Where a case does not fit neatly, for example a woman whose husband has been missing for years without a formal divorce. The right step is to put the facts in front of the island Social Welfare office and ask which document they will accept, rather than filing an incomplete application and waiting for it to be returned.

How much does the pension pay, and how is it paid?

The pension is a fixed monthly amount notified by the Lakshadweep Administration and revised from time to time by government order. This guide does not print a figure, because pension rates in the Union Territory are revised periodically and a stale figure would mislead. The current rate is available at the Social Welfare office on your island; ask for the applicable order.

The payment mechanics are fixed and worth knowing:

• Payment is monthly and made by transfer to the beneficiary's own bank account.
• There is no cash disbursement and no payment routed through a relative.
• Payment starts from the month of sanction; arrears for the waiting period are not usually granted.
• The account must remain active, KYC-current and Aadhaar-seeded, or the credit will fail even though the sanction stands.

What documents are required?

Carry originals for verification and keep a full photocopy set at home. Island offices work on physical files, and a lost attachment is easier to replace when you still hold a copy.

How to apply for the pension

1. Visit the Social Welfare office on your island and collect the application form for the pension for abandoned ladies and destitutes. The Village (Dweep) Panchayat office can direct you to the correct counter if the handling office has changed.
2. Obtain the nativity certificate and the income certificate from the Sub-Divisional Officer or Deputy Collector. Start with these; they take the longest of anything on the document list.
3. Assemble the marital-status proof — the divorce decree or talaq record if one exists, or a desertion/destitution certificate from the competent authority the island office names. Confirm the accepted authority before you begin, because this is where applications most often go wrong.
4. Open or check the bank account in your own name and get it Aadhaar-seeded at the branch.
5. Fill and submit the form with self-attested copies of all documents at the island Social Welfare office, and take a dated acknowledgement with a reference number.
6. Allow the local verification of residence, marital status and income to take place, and keep a reachable phone number on the form.
7. Follow up after four to six weeks at the island office with the reference number, and once sanction is issued, note the sanction number for all future queries.

How do you check the status of your application?

There is no online status tracker for this scheme. Status is checked in person or by phone at the island Social Welfare office, quoting the acknowledgement number, and the three things worth asking about are whether local verification is complete, whether the file has reached the Directorate at Kavaratti, and whether sanction has been issued. After sanction, the passbook is the running status check. A credit arriving at roughly the same time each month means everything downstream is working.

Why applications are rejected, and how to fix them

• No acceptable proof of divorce or desertion. The commonest reason. Go back to the island office and ask, in writing, which authority's certificate they accept.
• Nativity not established. Residence is not nativity; obtain the certificate from the SDO or Deputy Collector.
• Income certificate shows a regular earning, or verification finds one.
• Remarriage found at verification. This ends eligibility outright.
• Already drawing another Administration pension for the same months.
• Bank account not in the applicant's own name, dormant, or mismatched against Aadhaar.

Most of these are curable. Fix the document and re-submit at the same office. You generally do not need to restart the process elsewhere.

What changes must be reported?

Report any of these to the island Social Welfare office promptly:

• Remarriage, which ends the pension.
• Starting regular employment or acquiring a stable income.
• Permanent shift away from the islands.
• Change of bank account or branch.
• Death of the beneficiary, so that payment stops cleanly.

Amounts drawn after eligibility ends are treated as ineligible payments and can be recovered, so voluntary reporting is far cheaper than being found at verification.

Where to raise a grievance

• Social Welfare office on your island: first, in writing, with your reference number.
• Directorate of Social Welfare and Tribal Affairs, Secretariat, Kavaratti, for a file stuck at sanction stage.
• Office of the District Collector, Kavaratti, for escalation.
• CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in, trackable online complaint against the Lakshadweep Administration.

The application is free of charge, and no agent has any role in the sanction. Any demand for money to process the pension should be reported to the island office and to the Collector.