Bhima Bhoi Bhinnakshyama Samarthya Abhiyan (BBSA), Odisha

What is Bhima Bhoi Bhinnakshyama Samarthya Abhiyan?

Bhima Bhoi Bhinnakshyama Samarthya Abhiyan (BBSA) is the umbrella scheme of the Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department, Government of Odisha, described in its own guidelines as an integrated initiative for empowerment of persons with disabilities. The guidelines currently published by the department are marked revised as on 1 April 2018. The scheme is named after the nineteenth-century Odia poet-saint Bhima Bhoi, and is often written as the Bhima Bhoi Divyang scheme or BBSA yojana.

BBSA exists because the SSEPD Department identified two linked problems. Persons with disabilities face constraints in accessing public services for want of certification to support their entitlement, and there is a shortage of adequate assistive devices and appliances for their integration into the mainstream. The guideline cites Census of India 2011, which estimated the population of persons with disabilities in Odisha at 12,44,402, or 2.96 per cent of the state's population to 0.75 percentage points above the national average of 2.21 per cent.

BBSA runs in mission mode and is organised into 25 programme components, including Samarthya Sibir Abhiyan, multipurpose smart cards, supply and fitting of aids and appliances, fabrication workshops, mobile fabrication workshops, minor surgery assistance, self-employment kits, self-employment assistance, complicated surgeries and smart appliances, scholarships, free coaching, job fairs, mobile rehabilitation vans, Mission Khyamata, skill upgradation, livelihood business incubators, disaster relief, community based rehabilitation, sensitisation, IEC, legal aid, research, implementation of the RPwD Act 2016, quality learning for children with disabilities, and special incentives to meritorious students.

Who is eligible for BBSA in Odisha?

BBSA is deliberately broad at the entry point and specific at the component level.

You can apply if:

• You are a person with disability as defined under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which covers 21 categories including blindness, low vision, hearing impairment, locomotor disability, cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, mental illness, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, dwarfism, haemophilia, thalassemia, sickle cell disease, specific learning disabilities, speech and language disability, leprosy cured persons, acid attack victims, chronic neurological conditions and multiple disabilities.
• You are a resident of Odisha.
• For the Samarthya Sibir services, you qualify irrespective of age and category of disability, provided you have not availed the same service previously.
• For free aids and appliances, your family income is up to Rs 2,40,000 a year.
• For the scholarship component, you are a child of a person with disability, a regular student of a recognised institution studying after Class 10, with annual family income not more than Rs 2,40,000.
• For free coaching, you are a student with 40 per cent or more disability.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You have already availed the same service under BBSA. The guideline restricts repeat claims of the same benefit.
• You are seeking the scholarship while already receiving financial assistance from the state or central government under any other scheme.
• For the scholarship, your family income exceeds Rs 2,40,000 a year.
• You are not a bona fide resident of Odisha.
• You want free aids and appliances but your family income is above Rs 2,40,000 to in that case you are still served, but at 50 per cent of cost, not free.

What benefits does BBSA give?

The guideline also provides for complicated surgeries and smart appliances — cochlear implant surgery, retinal replacement, myoelectrical hands, modernised AK and BK prosthesis, motorised tricycles and wheelchairs, and laser canes, where applications are recommended by the Collector to the SSEPD Department, which considers such cases every year.

How to apply for BBSA benefits in Odisha

1. Attend the Samarthya Sibir in your block. The camps are held block by block, dividing the block into clusters of gram panchayats, as many times a year as required. Publicity is done in advance at village and panchayat level through local media, so watch for the announcement.
2. Register at the entry counter of the first camp. Computerised registration counters operate at both entry and exit. The entry counter issues a registration slip and the data sheet format that becomes the basis for documentation and follow-up for the whole programme.
3. Complete assessment and certification. The first camp does pre-assessment of disability, issue of disability certificates, ID cards and pass books, income, residence and caste certificates and transport concessions, and empanelment for scholarships, skill training, pension and other social security schemes.
4. Return for the second camp, where assistive devices and self-employment kits assessed at the first camp are supplied and fitted.
5. For the scholarship, submit the application in the prescribed format to the District Social Security Officer, routed through the head of your institution, immediately after taking admission, with a photograph, Aadhaar number and marksheet of the last examination passed. The department may also invite online applications through ssepd.gov.in.
6. For self-employment assistance, submit a proposal to the DSSO with cost estimates, profit and loss accounts and a repayment schedule. On sanction the amount is usually disbursed in two phases.
7. For SHG support under Mission Khyamata, register the group with the DSSO, get it graded on the standard gradation formula, and then apply for the one-time assistance of Rs 50,000.

How does the aids and appliances component work?

Persons with disabilities requiring supply and fitment of aids and appliances are enlisted at the first camp along with the devices they need. Income proof decides the price: free up to a family income of Rs 2,40,000 a year, and 50 per cent of cost above that. A BPL card, Food Security Card or pension book can be produced in place of a formal income certificate.

The illustrative list in the guideline covers orthoses, prostheses, splints, surgical shoes, crutches, tricycles, wheelchairs, walkers, CP chairs and gaiters for locomotor disability; digital BTE and analogue body-level hearing aids with batteries and solar chargers for speech and hearing; folding sticks, long canes, Braille slates, abacus and digital voice recorders for visual disability; toilet chairs, prone boards and learning kits for intellectual disability; learning kits for autism spectrum disorder; and walking sticks, knee caps, belts and collars for geriatric disability. Any appliance prescribed by rehabilitation or medical professionals may also be considered, subject to a maximum ceiling of Rs 20,000 per appliance.

Fabrication is handled by the State Institute for Rehabilitation and Research at Bhubaneswar and by District Disability Rehabilitation Centres, each serving an allotted group of districts, for example SIDR Bhubaneswar covers Angul, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapada and Puri, while DDRC Sambalpur covers Bargarh, Debagarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur and Sundargarh. Where a person lives beyond the reach of these centres, mobile fabrication workshops travel to panchayat, tehsil, block or sub-division locations, take measurements, and fabricate and fit appliances on the spot.

How does the BBSA scholarship work?

The scholarship covers children of persons with disabilities with annual family income below Rs 2,40,000 who are pursuing higher education after Class 10. It reimburses admission, tuition and examination fees, hostel charges and the purchase of books and learning materials, subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000 annually.

Applications go through the head of the institution to the DSSO, who scrutinises them and gets them sanctioned by the Collector. The scholarship is payable from the month of admission to the end of the academic session including the month of examination, subject to a maximum of 10 months in an academic year, and is remitted in advance for the year in question. For continued absence not exceeding three months on health grounds, the scholarship is paid in full; for prolonged unexplained absence the DSSO decides after an inquiry. Utilisation certificates are submitted by 28 February each year and consolidated UCs by 31 March.

Where BBSA applications commonly go wrong

• Missing the camp cycle, devices assessed at the first camp are delivered at the second camp, so skipping the first camp usually means waiting for the next round.
• No income proof for free aids and appliances, which pushes the case to the 50 per cent contribution slab.
• Already drawing another scholarship, which disqualifies the BBSA scholarship outright.
• Application not routed through the head of the institution for the scholarship component.
• Certificate not converted to UDID, which slows verification since the smart card system is designed to complement the national UDID scheme.
• Bank account not opened correctly: below 18 the account must be joint with a parent or guardian, at 18 and above it must be in the student's own name.

Help and grievance redressal

• SSEPD Department, Government of Odisha, Red Building, Lokseva Bhawan, Bhubaneswar 751001. Telephone 0674-2392803, email ssepdsec.od@od.gov.in.
• District Social Security Officer (DSSO) of your district. The working authority for scholarships, self-employment assistance, SHG registration and camp follow-up. The list of DSSOs is published on ssepd.odisha.gov.in.
• Block Social Security Officer (BSSO) for block-level camp and fitment queries.
• SIDR Bhubaneswar or your allotted DDRC for fabrication, fitment and repair of devices.
• Jana Sunani, the Odisha public grievance portal at janasunani.odisha.gov.in.

Penal provisions under Chapter XVI of the RPwD Act 2016 are required to be displayed in Odia and English within and outside every Samarthya Sibir, and arrangements are made to prevent fake certificate holders. No fee is payable to attend a camp or to be assessed for any BBSA benefit.

How to check your BBSA application status

BBSA does not run a single online tracking dashboard where an applicant can enter a reference number and see a status update. Because almost every component is processed through the Samarthya Sibir camp cycle or through the district office, status checking works through the same offices that handled the application.

• For a device, certificate, or benefit registered at a Samarthya Sibir: keep the registration slip and data sheet issued at the entry counter of the first camp. This slip carries the reference the Block Social Security Officer (BSSO) uses to look up your case when you ask about it. If the second camp for your cluster has already been held and you were not called for fitment, raise it with the BSSO before the next cycle rather than waiting.
• For a scholarship, self-employment, or SHG (Mission Khyamata) application: these are sanctioned by the Collector on the recommendation of the District Social Security Officer (DSSO), so the DSSO's office is the point of contact for status. Applications routed through an institution head (as scholarships must be) can also be tracked by asking the institution whether the DSSO has responded to the forwarded application.
• For applications submitted online through the SSEPD portal where that option exists, check the acknowledgement or reference number generated at submission and use it when following up with the DSSO, since the portal itself is not described in the guidelines as offering applicant-facing status tracking.
• By phone: call the SSEPD Department at 0674-2392803, or the DSSO of your district (the list of District Social Security Officers is published on ssepd.odisha.gov.in) with your registration slip or application details ready.
• For complicated surgeries and smart appliances recommended by the Collector to the SSEPD Department, which are considered on an annual basis, expect a longer wait between recommendation and sanction; check with the Collector's office on whether your case has been forwarded and with SSEPD on whether it has been taken up in that year's review.
• If there is no response after a reasonable follow-up at the BSSO or DSSO level, escalate through Jana Sunani, the Odisha public grievance portal at janasunani.odisha.gov.in, citing the camp, date, and registration details.