Financial Assistance to Gallantry (Shaurya) Award Recipients, Madhya Pradesh

What is the Madhya Pradesh financial assistance for gallantry award recipients?

Financial Assistance to Gallantry Award Recipients is a state honour scheme run by the Directorate of Sainik Welfare, under the Home Department of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The directorate's own list of state-sponsored facilities records it plainly: financial assistance from the Government of Madhya Pradesh to soldiers decorated for shaurya (gallantry) and distinguished service.

The scheme sits on top of what the central government already pays. A gallantry award from the President of India carries a central monthly monetary allowance; Madhya Pradesh adds a one-time lump sum, described on the departmental scheme table as an ek musht anudan rashi, to a soldier from the state who wins one of those decorations. Nothing is deducted from the central allowance because of it.

The scale published by the Directorate of Sainik Welfare is:

The pattern follows the national hierarchy of decorations: the two highest awards, one wartime and one peacetime, are paid at the same rate, and each successive tier below them is paid at a lower rate. Madhya Pradesh's gallantry scale is among the more generous state scales in India.

The scheme is administered through the District Sainik Welfare Offices (Zila Sainik Kalyan Karyalaya), one in each district, which are the same offices that issue ex-servicemen identity cards and process every other Sainik Kalyan benefit.

Who is eligible for the gallantry award grant?

You can claim the grant if:

• You are domiciled in Madhya Pradesh. Domicile, not posting or place of birth of the unit, is the deciding test.
• You have been decorated with one of the gallantry awards listed above: Param Vir Chakra, Ashoka Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Vir Chakra, Shaurya Chakra, a Sena, Vayu Sena or Nau Sena Medal for gallantry, or a Mention in Despatches.
• The award has been notified by the Government of India, so that a gazette notification or official citation exists.
• You are the decorated person, or, in a posthumous award, the recognised next of kin.

You are not eligible if:

• You are domiciled outside Madhya Pradesh, even if you served in a unit raised in the state or are currently posted there. Your own state's Rajya Sainik Board runs the equivalent scheme.
• Your decoration is a distinguished-service medal rather than a gallantry award. The Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, Vishisht Seva Medal, Sarvottam Yuddh Seva Medal, Uttam Yuddh Seva Medal and Yuddh Seva Medal are paid under the separate service medal grant, at different rates.
• The award has not yet been notified, in which case there is nothing for the district office to verify.
• You are claiming a second payment for the same award. The grant is one-time per decoration; a soldier decorated twice with different awards is a separate case and should be raised with the directorate.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Madhya Pradesh gallantry award grant

1. Register with your District Sainik Welfare Office. Take your discharge book or service certificate, ESM identity card, domicile proof and Aadhaar to the Zila Sainik Kalyan Karyalaya of your district and get yourself registered.
2. Get your portal ESM ID generated. The Sainik Kalyan portal issues an ESM ID. The directorate's own instruction page states that an ex-serviceman must compulsorily hold a portal-generated ESM ID to request any scheme.
3. Map the ESM ID to your Samagra Member ID and complete Aadhaar e-KYC. The portal requires the ESM ID to be mapped to a Samagra Member ID, and that Samagra ID must have Aadhaar e-KYC done. Without this the online request will not go through.
4. Raise the scheme request. Open sainikkalyan.mp.gov.in → Yojanaon ke liye anurodh (Request for Schemes), enter your ESM mobile number, ESM ID and Samagra Member ID with the captcha, and select the gallantry award grant.
5. Submit the supporting documents; gazette notification or citation, domicile proof, service certificate, Aadhaar and bank passbook copy; at the District Sainik Welfare Office, and collect an acknowledgement.
6. Let the district office verify and forward the case to the Directorate of Sainik Welfare at Bhopal for sanction.
7. Receive the sanction and the bank credit. The one-time grant is released to your Aadhaar-seeded bank account after sanction.

For a posthumous award, the next of kin follows the same route through the District Sainik Welfare Office, adding the succession and next-of-kin documents.

How does this differ from the central gallantry allowance?

The Government of India pays a monthly monetary allowance to gallantry award winners, revised from time to time and paid for life. Madhya Pradesh's grant is a one-time lump sum paid by the state on top of that. The two are independent: claiming the state grant does not reduce the central allowance, and drawing the central allowance does not disqualify you from the state grant.

Madhya Pradesh separately extends a set of non-cash entitlements to ex-servicemen and their families that a decorated soldier also enjoys: free treatment in government hospitals, a 2 per cent reservation in allotment of residential plots and flats under government schemes, 50 per cent rebate in property tax for non-income-tax-paying ex-servicemen and widows, 10 per cent reservation in Group C and 20 per cent in Group D state government posts, and relaxation in the physical test for recruitment into the state police.

How do I check the status of my claim?

1. Log in to sainikkalyan.mp.gov.in with the credentials issued when your ESM ID was created, and open your scheme request.
2. Ask your District Sainik Welfare Officer for the file position — every district office and its DSWO's phone number is published on the portal's "Who is Who" page.
3. For a case pending at Bhopal, contact the Directorate of Sainik Welfare on 0755-2553992 or by email at dirrsb@mp.gov.in.
4. If the file is stuck, lodge a grievance on the CM Helpline by dialling 181.

Why do gallantry grant claims get held up?

• ESM ID not mapped to a Samagra Member ID, or the Samagra ID's Aadhaar e-KYC not completed. This blocks the online request outright.
• Domicile not established, a service record showing a Madhya Pradesh address is not the same as a domicile certificate.
• Award notification not attached, or the citation submitted without the gazette reference.
• Name spelt differently across the discharge book, Aadhaar and bank records.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, which stalls the transfer after sanction.
• Succession not settled in a posthumous case, where more than one claimant comes forward.

Most of these are documentation problems, and the District Sainik Welfare Office will tell you exactly which paper is missing if you ask for the objection in writing.

Who do I contact?

• Directorate of Sainik Welfare, Madhya Pradesh: G.T.B. Complex, T.T. Nagar, Bhopal 462003. Phone 0755-2553992, email dirrsb@mp.gov.in.
• Joint Director / Assistant Director, Directorate: phone 0755-2553743.
• District Sainik Welfare Offices: contact details for every district; Bhopal 0755-2556198, Gwalior 0751-2990137, Chhindwara 07162-242119, Betul 07141-230790, Chhatarpur 07682-245460, Guna 07542-251010 and the rest: are published on the portal's "Who is Who" page.
• CM Helpline: 181.

Applying is free. There is no processing fee at any stage, and no agent is authorised to charge for a gallantry award claim.