Tripura Scheme for Incentive to the Girl Child

What is the Tripura Scheme for Incentive to the Girl Child?

Tripura Scheme for Incentive to the Girl Child is a State Plan scheme of the Directorate of Social Welfare and Social Education, Government of Tripura. It was one of three new plan schemes sanctioned by the Education (Social Welfare and Social Education) Department on 8 June 2009. The other two being the Tripura Cobblers Pension Scheme and the Tripura Rickshaw Pullers Pension Scheme, and it came into effect from 1 June 2009.

The scheme is often written locally as TIGC, and the Directorate's own service list uses the expanded form "Tripura Incentive to Girl Child (TIGC)". Its purpose, set out in the 2009 memorandum for the Council of Ministers, is blunt: in some sections of society the birth of a girl child is not welcomed, poor parents treat a daughter as a future expense, and Tripura's female literacy rate in the 2001 Census was 64.90 per cent against 81 per cent for males. A monthly cash incentive routed to the mother was designed to change that arithmetic at the household level.

Key features

• State Plan scheme, funded entirely by the Government of Tripura.
• Delivered through Child Development Project Officers, with help from the Agartala Municipal Corporation, Nagar Panchayats, R.D. Blocks and the TTAADC.
• Money is paid monthly to the mother, not to the child or the father.
• Coverage is capped at two girl children in one family.
• Beneficiary selection is done with the help of urban and rural PRI bodies and the Health Department.

How much money does the scheme give?

The scheme was launched at Rs 300 per month per girl child. The 2009 memorandum projected 11,254 eligible girl children in the first year and a liability of Rs 4.05 crore per annum at that rate.

The Directorate's Citizen Charter (2021-22), published on socialwelfare.tripura.gov.in, records the current entry as "Rs 500 is given as monthly pension" for the Tripura Scheme for Incentive to Girl Child. That is the most recent figure available on a Tripura government source.

Two honest cautions belong here. First, several third-party scheme directories still repeat the original Rs 300 rate, so a reader comparing sites will find both numbers. Second, the Education Department's notification of 19 September 2022, which raised 32 social security pensions to a flat Rs 2,000 per month with effect from 1 September 2022, does not list the girl child incentive, it is an incentive scheme, not a social security pension, and it was not covered by that revision. Ask the CDPO for the rate currently being disbursed in your project before you plan around a figure.

Who is eligible under the Tripura girl child incentive?

You can claim the incentive if:

• The girl child was born on or after 1 June 2009.
• The family belongs to the BPL or Adhoc BPL category, as recorded by the AMC, Nagar Panchayat or R.D. Block.
• The girl child is one of the first two girl children in the family.
• The family is resident in Tripura and the birth is registered with the local registrar of births.
• The mother has a working bank or post office account in her own name.

You are not eligible, and cannot claim, if:

• The girl child was born before 1 June 2009.
• The family is in the APL category. The Directorate runs APL variants of some disability pensions, but no APL variant of this incentive is notified.
• The claim is for a third or subsequent girl child in the same family.
• The child's birth has not been registered, so no birth certificate exists.
• A duplicate claim already exists for the same child under another family record.

Note that the Citizen Charter frames eligibility around the BPL category, while some directories describe an annual family income ceiling of Rs 1 lakh. The income ceiling of Rs 1 lakh per annum is the criterion the Charter attaches to Tripura's social security pensions. Where the two descriptions differ, the CDPO office applies the departmental circular in force, so treat the BPL card as the document that decides the case.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Tripura girl child incentive

1. Register the birth of the girl child with the AMC, Nagar Panchayat, Gram Panchayat or Village Committee and collect the birth certificate. Nothing moves without it.
2. Visit the office of the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) for your AMC ward, Nagar Panchayat or R.D. Block and ask for the application form for the Tripura Scheme for Incentive to the Girl Child. The form is supplied free of cost.
3. Fill in the form with the mother's details, the child's details, the family's BPL category and the mother's bank or post office account number and IFSC.
4. Attach the supporting documents; birth certificate, BPL proof, EPIC of the mother, passbook copy and Aadhaar copies — self-attested.
5. Submit the file to the CDPO and take a receipt or acknowledgement with the date of submission.
6. Wait for the field enquiry. The CDPO verifies the claim locally, with help from the PRI body and the Health Department, and forwards a consolidated proposal with recommendations to the Director of Social Welfare and Social Education.
7. Check your account once sanction is issued. Payment then runs monthly.

How to check the status of your application

Tripura does not publish a citizen-facing online tracker for this incentive. The practical route is:

1. Return to the CDPO office with your acknowledgement and ask where the proposal has reached: enquiry stage, forwarded to the Directorate, or sanctioned.
2. At district level, the District Inspector of Social Education (DISE) is the officer named in the Citizen Charter for follow-up.
3. Check your bank or post office passbook for the first credit; the money arrives as a direct credit, not by cheque.
4. If nothing moves, log a grievance on the Tripura CM Helpline, 1905.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Date of birth before 1 June 2009, this cannot be cured. The cut-off is written into the scheme.
• No BPL or Adhoc BPL record for the family. Get the household category corrected at the AMC, Nagar Panchayat or Block office first.
• Two girl children already covered in the same family. The cap is absolute.
• Bank account in the wrong name. The account must be the mother's own. Accounts in the father's name or in the child's name are returned.
• Dormant account. A post office or bank account with no transaction for years can reject the credit. Re-activate it and inform the CDPO.
• Name mismatch between the birth certificate, EPIC and Aadhaar. Correct the weakest document before resubmitting.
• Unregistered birth. Late registration of birth is possible through the local registrar, and the incentive claim can be filed once the certificate is issued.

Where to complain if the incentive stops

• Directorate of Social Welfare and Social Education, Tripura: +91-381-2326033 (fax +91-381-2323980), email socialwelfare-tr@gov.in
• CDPO of your ICDS project. The first and most useful point of contact
• District Inspector of Social Education at district level
• Tripura CM Helpline: 1905, or cmhelpline.tripura.gov.in

Applying is free. The application form is given free of cost by the CDPO, and no agent, Anganwadi functionary or middleman is entitled to charge for getting a name added to the beneficiary list.

How this scheme sits alongside Tripura's other girl-child measures

Tripura Scheme for Incentive to the Girl Child is a monthly incentive, and it is distinct from the Department's marriage-assistance scheme, Mukhyamantri Kanya Bibaha Yojana (MKBY), whose gazette notification and application form are published on the same Directorate website. Families sometimes confuse the two because both are administered by the Directorate of Social Welfare and Social Education. The incentive scheme supports the child's upbringing from birth; MKBY is a one-time assistance at the time of marriage. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and its state extension, Tripura Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, run in parallel as awareness programmes and pay no cash to individual families.

At the state level, the Directorate reported in the 2026-27 budget speech that 3.87 lakh beneficiaries were drawing benefits under 35 different social pension and allowance schemes, of which this incentive is one of the smaller and least publicised. That is precisely why applying at the CDPO office, rather than waiting to be identified, is the sensible course for an eligible family.