Dwarf Pension Scheme (Bauna Pension)

What is the Dwarf Pension Scheme?

Dwarf Pension Scheme is the Social Welfare Department, Government of Uttarakhand pension for persons with dwarfism. In Uttarakhand it is officially listed as the Bauna Pension Scheme, and that is the name used on the department's own website and on the Social Security Portal, so it is the term to use at a Common Service Centre or a district office.

The scheme pays Rs 1,200 per month to help beneficiaries meet basic needs and improve their quality of life. Payment is made by Direct Benefit Transfer straight into the beneficiary's bank account, with no intermediary.

The reasoning behind a separate pension is practical. Dwarfism is recognised as a specified disability under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, but a person of short stature often does not cross the 40 percent benchmark disability threshold that Uttarakhand's Divyang Pension Scheme requires, while still facing real barriers to employment, transport and everyday work. The Bauna Pension uses a simple, objective test instead, height of 4 feet or less, so that eligibility does not depend on a percentage assessment that may not capture the difficulty.

Key features

• Rs 1,200 per month, paid by DBT.
• Height test: 4 feet or less, certified by a Medical Officer.
• Minimum age: 21 years. No upper age limit is specified.
• No income limit of any kind.
• Applied for on ssp.uk.gov.in, the UMANG app, or the Apuni Sarkar portal at eservices.uk.gov.in.

Who is eligible for the Dwarf Pension Scheme?

You can apply if:

• Your height is 4 feet or less, certified by a Medical Officer.
• You are 21 years of age or above.
• You are a resident of Uttarakhand.
• You have a bank account in your own name for the Direct Benefit Transfer.

The Social Welfare Department states plainly that no income ceiling restrictions apply. That is worth repeating because it removes the most common reason people do not bother applying: there is no need for an income certificate, and a family with an earning member is still eligible.

You cannot apply if:

• You are below 21 years of age. This is the one age bar in the scheme, and it is applied strictly.
• Your certified height exceeds 4 feet. Height is the whole eligibility test; there is no discretion around it.
• You are not a resident of Uttarakhand. State pensions are for state residents.
• You are already drawing another Uttarakhand state pension for the same condition. A person cannot hold the Bauna Pension and the Divyang Pension together.

If your assessed disability is more than 40 percent, look at the Divyang Pension Scheme first. It pays Rs 1,500 a month, Rs 300 more, from age 18 rather than 21. Apply for whichever you qualify for on better terms, not both.

What documents are required for the Bauna pension?

Two of these trip people up. The consent letter from the Assistant Social Welfare Officer is a departmental step that must be completed before the file moves, and the certified photograph must be attested by the local authority rather than simply pasted on the form.

How to apply for the Dwarf Pension Scheme online

1. Get the height certificate. Visit the Medical Officer at your government hospital or CHC and obtain a certificate stating your height as 4 feet or less. Nothing else in the application can substitute for it.
2. Obtain the supporting papers; family register copy if you live in a rural area or a ration card if you live in a town, the consent letter from the Assistant Social Welfare Officer, and a photograph attested by the local authority.
3. Open the Social Security Portal at ssp.uk.gov.in and select the Bauna Pension online application. You may equally use the Apuni Sarkar portal at eservices.uk.gov.in or the UMANG mobile app, both of which route to the same departmental system.
4. Fill the form with your name, parent's or spouse's name, date of birth, full address with district and block, certified height, Aadhaar number and bank account details. Enter your name exactly as it reads on Aadhaar and on your passbook.
5. Upload the documents and submit. Save the application number displayed on screen, it is how you track the file.
6. Wait for verification by the block and District Social Welfare Office. On sanction, Rs 1,200 a month begins flowing into your account by DBT.

How to apply offline or with assistance

1. Visit a Common Service Centre (CSC) with all six documents and ask the operator to file the Bauna Pension application for you on ssp.uk.gov.in. Only the notified government service fee is payable.
2. Or approach the District Social Welfare Office, which can guide you on the consent letter and on getting the height certificate issued.
3. Collect a receipt or note down the application number before you leave.

How to check your pension status

1. Open ssp.uk.gov.in and choose the pension status or beneficiary search option.
2. Enter your application number; if you have lost it, search by district, block and name.
3. The screen shows whether the file is pending at block level, sanctioned or rejected, and whether payments have been released.
4. If the status reads sanctioned but no money has arrived, check that your bank account is active, Aadhaar-seeded and in your own name. That is the cause in the large majority of such cases.

Uttarakhand releases pension money in Direct Benefit Transfer cycles covering several months at a time — one such release moved Rs 111 crore to more than 7.5 lakh beneficiaries across the state's pension schemes. Do not assume a payment has failed simply because it did not arrive on a particular date; check the passbook against the release cycle first.

Why Bauna pension applications get rejected

• Height certificate above 4 feet, or a certificate that does not state the height in figures.
• Applicant under 21 years of age on the date of application.
• Missing consent letter from the Assistant Social Welfare Officer.
• Photograph not attested by the local authority.
• Bank account not in the applicant's own name, or dormant.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the bank passbook and the family register.
• Duplicate pension; already drawing another state pension.

Nearly all of these are correctable. Fix the document and file again; there is no bar on re-application.

Other Uttarakhand schemes to check at the same time

• Divyang Pension Scheme; Rs 1,500 a month for persons aged 18 and above with more than 40 percent disability. In one reported period, 87,477 beneficiaries were paid Rs 1,500 a month under it.
• Teelu Rauteli Pension Scheme: Rs 1,200 a month for rural farmers aged 18 to 60 with 20 to 40 percent disability acquired during agricultural work.
• Divyang Bharan Poshan Anudaan. A maintenance grant for persons with disabilities, administered by the same department.
• Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities, for students, through the National Scholarship Portal.
• Unique Disability ID (UDID), not a pension, but the identity card that makes every other disability entitlement easier to claim.

Where to get help

• Social Welfare Department toll-free helpline: 1800-180-4236
• Departmental mobile and WhatsApp: 63952 21188
• Social Security Portal: ssp.uk.gov.in
• Apuni Sarkar portal: eservices.uk.gov.in
• District Social Welfare Officer of your district
• Directorate of Social Welfare, Uttarakhand: socialwelfare.uk.gov.in

Applying is free. No agent can charge you for getting the Bauna pension sanctioned, and no government officer will ever ask you for an OTP.