Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (Sikkim)

What is the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme in Sikkim?

Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme, usually shortened to IGNDPS, is the disability pension component of the National Social Assistance Programme, run in Sikkim by the NSAP Division of the Women, Child, Senior Citizen and Divyangjan Welfare Department. According to the department's own portal at pensionscheme.sikkim.gov.in, the scheme pays Rs 2,000 per month to a person aged 18 years and above with more than 80 percent severe or multiple disability who belongs to a Below Poverty Line household.

IGNDPS has run in Sikkim since 2014. The pension amount is not purely central: the department states that the Rs 2,000 consists of the Central and State governments' shares, with Sikkim topping up the Government of India assistance so that the beneficiary receives a single, larger monthly credit than the bare central rate. The pension is governed in the state by the Rules for the Sikkim Social Assistance Pension Schemes, 2014.

Key features

• Monthly pension of Rs 2,000, or Rs 24,000 a year.
• Minimum age 18 years; there is no upper age cut-off written into the disability pension, though an elderly beneficiary may be moved to the old-age pension track.
• Disability threshold of more than 80 percent, severe or multiple.
• Restricted to Below Poverty Line households.
• Paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into a bank account, with no cash disbursement.

Readers should note that Sikkim runs a fuller set of social assistance pensions on the same portal; old-age pension at Rs 1,500, Rs 2,000 or Rs 2,500 depending on age band, a widow pension at Rs 2,000, an unmarried women's pension at Rs 2,000 and a one-time family benefit of Rs 30,000. IGNDPS is the disability pension in that family of schemes.

Who is eligible for IGNDPS in Sikkim?

You can get the pension if all of these hold:

• You are a resident of the State of Sikkim, with an SSC, COI or Residential Certificate to prove it.
• You are 18 years of age or above.
• You hold a certificate from the Medical Authorities certifying more than 80 percent disability, severe or multiple.
• Your household is in the Below Poverty Line category.
• You have no source of income.
• You hold a bank account, specified on the portal as one opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, capable of receiving DBT.

You cannot apply, or you are not eligible, if:

• You are under 18 years of age. Children with disability in Sikkim are covered by the Chief Minister's State Disability Pension Scheme instead.
• Your certified disability is 80 percent or less. The rule is "more than 80 percent", so a certificate reading exactly 80 percent does not clear the bar, and 40 to 80 percent belongs to CMDPS.
• You are a recipient of a salary, pension or family pension from the Central Government or any other state government.
• You have another source of income.
• Your household is not BPL.
• You cannot produce Sikkim residence proof.

The income and government-pension exclusions are the two that surprise applicants most. A person with 90 percent disability who draws a family pension from a deceased parent's government service is genuinely not eligible for IGNDPS, however severe the disability.

What documents are required for IGNDPS in Sikkim?

Take originals plus self-attested photocopies to any counter. For the online route, keep every scan within the file size and file type limits the portal displays; an oversized disability certificate scan is the most common upload failure on this form.

How to apply for IGNDPS in Sikkim online

1. Open pensionscheme.sikkim.gov.in, the pension portal of the Women, Child, Senior Citizen and Divyangjan Welfare Department.
2. Click Create Account and enter username, gender, first name, last name, email, mobile number and password, complete the captcha and click Register. Login credentials are sent to the registered email ID or mobile number.
3. Return to the portal, click Apply now and log in through the Sikkim single sign-on at sso.sikkim.gov.in.
4. Choose Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme and fill in every mandatory field.
5. Upload the disability certificate, residence certificate, BPL ration card, age proof, Aadhaar and bank passbook in the prescribed file size and type.
6. Submit, and save the system-generated application number displayed as your acknowledgement.

How to apply for IGNDPS in Sikkim offline

1. Approach your Gram Panchayat, Municipality or Municipal Corporation office, consult the designated authority about the procedure and the local departmental office, and collect the application form.
2. Fill in all mandatory fields and attach self-attested copies of every mandatory document.
3. Submit the completed form to the designated receiving authority and take a dated acknowledgement.

For a person with severe or multiple disability, the offline route is often the practical one, and a family member can carry the form to the panchayat on the applicant's behalf.

What happens after you apply?

The department's post-application process is set out in the same terms for all Sikkim social assistance pensions:

1. On receipt of the application in the prescribed form, it is scrutinised by the Selection Committee.
2. Approval is accorded by the Secretary of the department.
3. A copy of the order for the grant and payment of pension is endorsed to the District Collectors, Sub-Divisional Magistrates, Gram Vikash Adhikari and Panchayats where the applicant actually resides, and to the applicant.
4. The pension is distributed through the Direct Benefit Transfer system, or any other system the sanctioning or competent authority decides from time to time.

Because the sanction order reaches your panchayat, the panchayat office is the quickest place to confirm that your name is on the sanctioned list.

How do you check your IGNDPS status in Sikkim?

The department states plainly that the status, approval or rejection; is conveyed to the applicant through an SMS. There is no separate public status-lookup page for these pensions. In practice:

• Keep the system-generated application number from the online submission.
• Keep the registered mobile number in use; a changed number breaks the only channel the department uses.
• If nothing arrives, take the application number to the district office of the Women, Child, Senior Citizen and Divyangjan Welfare Department, or ask the Gram Vikash Adhikari whether the endorsement has come through.
• Once sanctioned, verify the Rs 2,000 DBT credit in your bank passbook each month.

Why IGNDPS applications get rejected in Sikkim

• Disability certified at 80 percent or less. The threshold is strictly more than 80 percent.
• Certificate not issued by the recognised Medical Authorities.
• Applicant below 18 years at the time of application.
• Household not on the BPL list.
• Existing income, or receipt of a salary, pension or family pension from a government.
• Already drawing the Chief Minister's State Disability Pension Scheme, since the two disability pensions are mutually exclusive.
• Bank account dormant, closed, or in a name that does not match Aadhaar, so the DBT credit fails.

Each has a fix. A borderline certificate can be reassessed by the Medical Authority. A BPL listing error is corrected through the panchayat and the food and civil supplies record. A failed DBT credit is almost always a branch-level issue, re-KYC or Aadhaar seeding — and can be sorted out in one visit.

Key dates and continuation

IGNDPS in Sikkim is open all year with no announced last date. Applications are received, scrutinised and sanctioned on a rolling basis. There is no annual re-application: once the Secretary sanctions the pension, the Rs 2,000 continues month after month while eligibility holds.

Eligibility can lapse. Moving out of Sikkim, starting to draw a government salary or pension, or a change in household BPL status all end entitlement, and should be reported rather than left to be discovered in a verification drive.

Where to raise a grievance

• Gram Panchayat, Municipality or Municipal Corporation office, first point of contact and the office that receives the endorsed sanction order.
• Gram Vikash Adhikari, for panchayat-level follow-up on a pending case.
• Sub-Divisional Magistrate and District Collector: both receive a copy of the sanction order and can be approached where a sanctioned pension is not being paid.
• Women, Child, Senior Citizen and Divyangjan Welfare Department, Gangtok, listed on sikkim.gov.in, for unresolved cases.

Applying for IGNDPS is free at every stage. No agent can charge you to add your name to the pension list, and no official will ask for your OTP or bank password.