Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana

What is Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana?

Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana is Maharashtra's core social security pension for destitute people below the age of 65. Run by the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, the scheme pays a monthly grant to people who have no reliable earner in the household and no means of supporting themselves: widows, orphans, persons with disabilities, people disabled by serious illness, divorced and abandoned women, and transgender persons.

The Marathi name most people search for is Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana, and the scheme is often called simply the niradhar pension. It sits alongside the department's other special assistance schemes; Shravan Bal Seva Rajya Nivrutti Vetan Yojana for people aged 65 and above, Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension, and applications for all of them are handled by the same branch at the tehsil office.

According to the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, the grant is Rs 1,500 per month, paid by Direct Benefit Transfer straight into the beneficiary's own bank account. There is no cash payment and no intermediary. The Thane district administration additionally publishes a rate of Rs 2,500 a month for beneficiaries with a disability with effect from October 2025 to confirm the rate applicable to your category at your own tehsil office, since rates for particular categories have been revised at different times.

Who is eligible for the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar pension?

You can claim if you are a resident of Maharashtra, are below 65 years of age, your annual family income is within the ceiling, and you fall in one of these categories:

• Destitute men and women below 65 with no means of support.
• Orphaned children.
• Persons with disabilities of all categories, certified by the district civil surgeon.
• People unable to earn because of a serious illness; tuberculosis, cancer, AIDS, leprosy and similar conditions.
• Widows, including the widow of a farmer who died by suicide.
• Divorced women, and women abandoned by their husbands, including those who have applied for divorce but have not received maintenance.
• Women released from prostitution, and women who have survived trafficking.
• Unmarried women above the age published by the department for that category.
• Transgender persons.
• Families of prisoners serving a sentence, where the household has lost its earner.

Income ceiling: family income of up to Rs 21,000 a year for a general applicant, and up to Rs 50,000 a year where the applicant has a disability. A household on the Below Poverty Line list qualifies on the strength of that listing.

You are not eligible if:

• You are 65 years of age or above, that group is covered by Shravan Bal Seva Rajya Nivrutti Vetan Yojana instead.
• Your family income exceeds the ceiling for your category.
• You are not a resident of Maharashtra.
• You are already drawing another government pension for the same purpose. Two pensions for one person are not sanctioned.
• You have an earning member in the household able to support you, so the test of destitution is not met.
• Your claimed category cannot be evidenced — for instance a disability claim without a civil surgeon's certificate, or an illness claim without a medical certificate.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana

1. Collect the certificates first. Get the income certificate and residence certificate from the tehsildar and talathi respectively, and the disability or medical certificate if your claim rests on one. Applications without these are returned rather than rejected, which wastes months.
2. Open a bank account in your own name and have it seeded with your Aadhaar. The grant is paid only by DBT, so a joint account in someone else's name will not work.
3. Register on the Aaple Sarkar portal at aaplesarkar.mahaonline.gov.in with your mobile number, then select the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department and open Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana.
4. Fill the application form: personal details, category claimed, family income, and bank account details, and upload each document as a clear scan.
5. Submit and note the application number shown on the acknowledgement. Use it to track the case.
6. Follow up at the tehsil office. The taluka-level Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana committee, working under the tehsildar, scrutinises the papers and sanctions the pension. Once sanctioned, the monthly credit begins.

How to apply offline

1. Go to the Sanjay Gandhi Yojana branch at the tehsildar's office, or to the collector's office or the talathi's office in your village.
2. Ask for the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojana application form, fill it in, and attach photocopies of every document listed above, carrying the originals for verification.
3. Submit the form and insist on a dated acknowledgement. This is the record you will need if the file goes missing.
4. Attend if the committee calls you for verification, and keep the tehsil office informed of any change of address or bank account.

Common Service Centres and Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendras will complete the online form on your behalf for the small notified service fee.

How to check the status of your application or payment

• On the Aaple Sarkar portal, log in and open the track-application option with your application number.
• At the tehsildar's Sanjay Gandhi Yojana branch, ask the clerk for the status of your file by application number and by village.
• For payments, check your bank passbook or the bank's SMS alerts, the credit appears as a DBT entry, not as a cash payment at any office.

Common reasons applications are rejected

• Income certificate above the ceiling. The Rs 21,000 limit is strict for general applicants. Where the certificate is wrong, apply to the tehsildar for a corrected one.
• Age 65 or above on the age proof, apply for the Shravan Bal senior citizen pension instead.
• Disability or illness certificate missing or issued by an unauthorised doctor. Only the district civil surgeon's certificate is accepted for disability.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, so a sanctioned pension never gets credited. Seed the account at your branch and report it to the tehsil office.
• Already drawing another pension, which shows up when records are matched.
• Residence not established because the residence certificate was not attached.

Where to complain if the pension is not sanctioned or has stopped

• Tehsildar's office, Sanjay Gandhi Yojana branch. The first authority, and the one that actually sanctions.
• Sub-divisional officer and District Collector: escalate here if the tehsil office does not act.
• District Social Welfare Officer / Assistant Commissioner, Social Welfare for scheme-level grievances.
• Aaple Sarkar grievance portal, grievances.maharashtra.gov.in, for a written complaint with a tracking number.

Applying is free. No agent or middleman can charge you for getting a name added to the beneficiary list, and no official will ask for a share of the monthly grant.