Grant of Marriage Allowance to the Widow's Daughter, Puducherry

What is the Grant of Marriage Allowance to the Widow's Daughter?

Grant of Marriage Allowance to the Widow's Daughter is a women's development scheme of the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Puducherry. The department states the objective as helping and assisting "the widow financially in performing her daughter's marriage", and fixes the amount of assistance at Rs 30,000 for the marriage expenses.

The scheme is sometimes listed nationally as GMAWD, and older sources; including the myScheme entry and the national services portal: quote Rs 25,000 or Rs 20,000. Those are earlier rates. The Department of Women and Child Development's own page, last updated on 31 July 2024, records Rs 30,000, and that is the figure to work with.

The scheme runs across all four regions of the union territory. Yanam, for example, publishes its own notices inviting objections to the list of proposed beneficiaries under "Marriage Allowance to Widow Daughter", and the department publishes a beneficiary list for the scheme each year.

Who is eligible for the widow's daughter marriage allowance?

The department publishes six conditions, and every one of them must be met.

You can apply if:

• You are a widow whose annual income does not exceed Rs 75,000 per annum.
• You are a citizen of India and a native of the Union Territory of Puducherry by birth, or by continuous residence of 5 years or more.
• The allowance is being claimed for the first marriage of the bride.
• The marriage will be performed in accordance with the law.
• The claim is for the marriage of one daughter only.
• The bride is above 18 and the bridegroom is above 21 years of age.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• Your annual income exceeds Rs 75,000 on the income certificate issued by the Revenue Department.
• You have already received the allowance for another daughter. The scheme covers one daughter per family.
• The marriage is not the bride's first marriage.
• The bride is 18 or under, or the bridegroom is 21 or under. The age conditions match the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, and the department will not sanction a marriage that breaches them.
• You are not a widow, or cannot produce the death certificate of the bride's father.
• You apply after the marriage has taken place, or fewer than 30 days before it, because the department requires the application 30 days before the proposed date.
• You have lived in the union territory for less than five years and are not a native by birth.

What documents are required?

The department lists the certificates to be enclosed as follows.

Obtaining the income and residence certificate from the Revenue Department is normally the slowest step, so start it as soon as the marriage date is fixed rather than a month before.

How to apply for the marriage allowance offline

1. Fix the marriage date and get the invitation printed, because the invitation is a listed enclosure and the 30-day rule runs from the proposed date.
2. Obtain the income and residence certificate from the Revenue Department, showing annual income within Rs 75,000.
3. Collect the application form from the office or sub-office of the Department of Women and Child Development during office hours, or print the prescribed form published under Application Forms for Women Development Schemes on wcd.py.gov.in.
4. Fill in every mandatory field, paste a passport-size photograph where the form provides for one, and sign the declaration that this is the bride's first marriage and that no allowance has been drawn for another daughter.
5. Attach the enclosures: income and residence certificate, marriage invitation, age proof of both the bride and the bridegroom, the death certificate of the bride's father, and the widow's bank passbook copy.
6. Submit the application at least 30 days before the proposed marriage date to the correct authority:

• Puducherry: the Deputy Director (Women Development), Department of Women and Child Development, Puducherry.
• Karaikal: the Child Development Project Officer, Karaikal.
• Mahe and Yanam: the Welfare Officer.

7. Take an acknowledgement with the date and time of submission.

How to apply online through the e-District portal

1. Open edistrict.py.gov.in, the e-District portal of the Government of Puducherry.
2. Click Login, then Register a New Membership if you do not have an account, and complete registration with your name, email, address, gender, date of birth and mobile number.
3. Log in and browse the department-wise list of schemes, then select the marriage allowance scheme under the Department of Women and Child Development.
4. Fill in the fields marked with a red asterisk, upload the scanned documents, tick the declaration, and submit.
5. Note the application number shown on screen; it is also sent to your registered mobile number and email, and it is what you use to track the application at edistrict.py.gov.in/User/TrackApplication.aspx.

How the application is processed

After submission, the department verifies the widow's income and residence, confirms the death certificate of the bride's father, and checks that no allowance has been drawn earlier for another daughter of the same family. In some regions the proposed beneficiary list is published for objections before sanction — Yanam does this routinely, which is a normal step and not a sign of a problem with your file.

The department is candid that "the selection is periodical and depends on the availability of funds". A complete, timely and eligible application can therefore still wait for a sanction cycle. The allowance is credited to the widow's bank account.

Why applications get rejected

• Filed late. Fewer than 30 days before the wedding, or after it, is the commonest failure.
• Income certificate above Rs 75,000, or an income certificate that has expired.
• Second daughter. The family has already drawn the allowance once.
• Bride's age is 18 or below, or the bridegroom's is 21 or below, on the age proofs submitted.
• Death certificate of the bride's father not enclosed, so widowhood is not established.
• Residence short of five years with no nativity by birth.
• Bank account in the daughter's name rather than the widow's, the applicant is the widow, and the credit follows her.

Key dates to plan around

• 30 days before the marriage, the last date to submit the application.
• The date of the proposed marriage on the invitation is what the department works from, so a change of date should be intimated in writing.
• Income and residence certificates should be obtained well before that 30-day mark, since Revenue Department processing adds its own time.

Where to complain if the allowance is delayed

The department publishes this escalation route:

• Puducherry: the Director, Department of Women and Child Development, Sithankudi, Puducherry; phone 0413-2244964.
• Karaikal: the Collector, Karaikal.
• Mahe and Yanam: the Regional Administrator concerned.
• CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in for a written grievance.

The application form is issued free of cost. No agent's fee is payable, and the allowance is credited only to the widow's own bank account.

How to check your application status

The way you check status depends on whether you applied online or submitted a paper application at the department office.

If you applied through edistrict.py.gov.in:

1. Go to edistrict.py.gov.in/User/TrackApplication.aspx.
2. Enter the application number that was generated at the time of submission and sent to your registered mobile number and email.
3. The portal shows the current stage of your file, for example whether it is pending verification at the department, forwarded for sanction, or sanctioned.
4. If the application number is lost, log back into your e-District account and check My Applications, which lists every application you have filed along with its current status.

If you submitted the application offline:

1. Keep the acknowledgement slip you were given at submission; it carries the date of filing and a reference or diary number the office uses internally.
2. Contact the office where you filed the papers, based on your region: the Deputy Director (Women Development) office in Puducherry, the Child Development Project Officer in Karaikal, or the Welfare Officer in Mahe or Yanam.
3. Ask specifically whether your file has cleared income and residence verification, and whether your daughter's name appears on the proposed beneficiary list published for objections for that cycle, since regions such as Yanam publish this list before sanction.
4. Because the department has stated that selection is periodical and depends on availability of funds, a verified and eligible file can still be waiting for the next sanction cycle rather than facing any problem; ask the office which cycle your application has been placed in.
5. Once sanctioned, ask for the expected date of credit to the widow's bank account, and confirm the account number on file matches the passbook copy submitted with the application.