Grant of Financial Assistance to Poor Parents Having Only One Girl Child Studying in 8th to 10th Standard, Puducherry

What is the Grant of Financial Assistance to Poor Parents Having Only One Girl Child?

Grant of Financial Assistance to Poor Parents Having Only One Girl Child Who is Studying in 8th to 10th Standard is a scheme of the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Puducherry. The scheme deposits Rs 25,000 as a National Savings Certificate in the name of a girl student from a poor family, and hands the certificate over when she turns 18 or marries.

The scheme was approved by G.O. Ms. No. 23/2005-Wel. (SW-IV) dated 20 May 2005, published in the Extraordinary Gazette of Pondicherry No. 37 dated 31 May 2005, and the rules took effect from the academic year 2004-05.

The stated purpose in the department's scheme sheet is that the scheme "aims at small family norms and promoting the welfare of the girl children and treats them as an asset, and to share the burden of the parents at the time of marriage of the girl child". It targets the years, Standard 8 to 10 to when girls from poor households are most likely to be pulled out of school.

Two things distinguish this scheme from the department's other girl-child schemes. It is tied to school study in a specific class range, and it does not require sterilisation of either parent, unlike the Grant of Incentive to the Family having One Girl / Two Girl Children. What it does require is that the family has only one girl child and no other issue at all.

The scheme runs in Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.

Who is eligible for the one girl child school assistance?

You can apply if:

• Your family: husband and wife — has only one girl child living and no other issue.
• The girl is studying in Standard 8, 9 or 10 in a school run by the government, or a private school recognised or aided by the government, in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• Your annual income from all sources is within the below-poverty-line limit prescribed by the government from time to time. The department's scheme sheet records the ceiling as Rs 24,000 a year.
• You are an Indian national and a native of Puducherry by birth, or resident there continuously for not less than five years.
• You can produce the original birth certificate of the girl child.
• The head of the girl's school forwards the application.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You have a son, or any issue other than the one girl child. This is the strictest condition in the scheme and the one most claims fail on.
• The girl is studying below Standard 8 or above Standard 10. A girl in Standard 7 has to wait; a girl already in Standard 11 has missed the window.
• The girl studies in a school that is neither government-run nor government-recognised or aided.
• Your annual income exceeds the prescribed below-poverty-line limit.
• You are not an Indian national, or neither parent has Puducherry nativity or five years of continuous residence.
• The birth of the girl child is not registered, so no birth certificate can be produced.

What documents are required?

The requirement that the ration card and voter ID copies be attested by a Gazetted Officer is easy to overlook and is a standard reason files are sent back.

How to apply for the one girl child assistance in Puducherry

1. Collect the income and residence certificate in Form-II from an officer of the Revenue Department not below the rank of Deputy Tahsildar.
2. Obtain the Form-III certificate from your Member of Parliament, Member of the Legislative Assembly, the Commissioner of the municipality or commune panchayat, or a Revenue official not below the rank of Deputy Tahsildar, certifying that you have only one girl child living and no other issue.
3. Get the study certificate and the forwarding certificate from the head of the school where your daughter is studying. Both come from the school and it is efficient to ask for them together.
4. Attest the ration card copy and the parents' election identity card copies before a Gazetted Officer.
5. Fill in the application in Form-I, the form appended to the rules, and attach the original birth certificate of the girl child along with all the above enclosures.
6. Submit the application through the head of the educational institution to the Deputy Director (Women Development), Department of Women and Child Development, Puducherry; the Child Development Project Officer, Karaikal; or the Social Welfare Organiser / Welfare Officer, Mahe or Yanam.
7. Collect the acknowledgement and follow up until the National Savings Certificate is issued in your daughter's name.

How much is given and when is it released?

The assistance is Rs 25,000, deposited in a Post Office in the form of a National Savings Certificate in the name of the girl child. There is no cash component and nothing is paid to the parents at the time of sanction.

The certificate is released when the girl attains the age of 18 years, or at the time of her marriage. Until then:

• The mother is the guardian of the minor's account.
• If the mother predeceases, the father becomes the guardian.
• If neither parent is alive, the guardian maintains the minor's account.
• If the girl child dies before completing 18 years, the amount with accrued interest is released to the mother or father, with preference to the mother if both are living.

The department's scheme sheet notes that "the selection is periodical and depends on the availability of funds", so an eligible application may be held over to a later sanction cycle rather than rejected.

How do I check the status of my application?

1. Ask the head of your daughter's school whether the application was forwarded and when, files sometimes stop at the school stage.
2. Contact the Deputy Director (Women Development) in Puducherry, the Child Development Project Officer in Karaikal, or the Welfare Officer in Mahe or Yanam with the acknowledgement number.
3. Ask whether the Form-III certificate and the income certificate have been accepted, since these are the usual query points.
4. Once sanctioned, ask for the National Savings Certificate number and keep the certificate safe until your daughter turns 18 or marries.

Why applications for this scheme get rejected

• A son or another child in the family. The scheme is only for families with a single girl child and no other issue.
• The girl is not in Standard 8, 9 or 10 on the date of application.
• The school is not government-run, recognised or aided, so the study certificate does not qualify.
• Forwarding certificate from the school head missing, because the parent applied directly to the department.
• Income certificate above the prescribed limit.
• Ration card and voter ID copies not attested by a Gazetted Officer.
• Original birth certificate not produced, only a photocopy.
• Form-III certificate issued by an authority below the prescribed rank.
• Residence condition not met, neither parent native to Puducherry nor resident for five continuous years.

Where do I complain if the certificate is not issued?

• Director, Department of Women and Child Development, Puducherry: 0413-2244785, email wcd[at]py[dot]gov[dot]in.
• Karaikal: the Child Development Project Officer.
• Mahe and Yanam: the Welfare Officer, escalating to the Regional Administrator.
• CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in for a written grievance with a tracking number.

Every step of this application is free, the form, the school's forwarding certificate, submission and the issue of the National Savings Certificate. No agent is needed and none should be paid.