Teelu Rauteli Award

What is the Teelu Rauteli Award?

Teelu Rauteli Award is an annual state honour of the Department of Women Empowerment and Child Development, Government of Uttarakhand. The award recognises women and adolescent girls of the state who have done outstanding work in a recognised field, and carries a cash prize of Rs 51,000 together with a certificate of appreciation from the State Government. Readers will also see the name written as Tilu Rauteli Award or Rajya Shakti Teelu Rauteli Puraskar; these refer to the same honour.

The award is named after Veerangana Teelu Rauteli, a warrior of the Garhwal region remembered in Uttarakhand's folk history for leading battles while still in her teens. The award was instituted in 2006 and has been conferred each year since, on 8 August, her birth anniversary.

Fields recognised. According to the Department of Women Empowerment and Child Development, the award covers achievement in social service, education, literature, art, culture, sport, media, environmental conservation, work against social orthodoxy and superstition, and acts of bravery. The intent is deliberately broad, a schoolteacher who has changed enrolment in a hill block, a woman who has led a forest-protection effort, a sportswoman, an author writing in Garhwali or Kumaoni, and a girl who has shown physical courage in a rescue are all within scope.

Scale. Roughly one woman or adolescent girl from each of Uttarakhand's 13 districts is selected, so the award is genuinely competitive and the number of honours in a year is small. The prize money was raised from Rs 31,000 to Rs 51,000 with effect from 2022.

The department announces a parallel Anganwadi Worker Award through the same advertisement, also carrying Rs 51,000, for outstanding anganwadi workers. In the 2025 round the department indicated that 35 projects would be selected for that recognition. Both awards are presented at the same 8 August function.

Who is eligible for the Teelu Rauteli Award?

You can apply if:

• You are a woman or an adolescent girl.
• You are a permanent resident of Uttarakhand.
• You have outstanding, documented achievement in one of the recognised fields; social service, education, literature, art, culture, sport, media, environmental conservation, work against superstition and orthodoxy, or an act of bravery.
• You can produce evidence of that work: certificates, published material, press coverage, institutional letters, photographs or official records.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a permanent resident of Uttarakhand. The award is a state honour and residence is a hard condition.
• You are male. The award is restricted to women and adolescent girls.
• You have no documentary evidence of the work claimed. Selection committees work from uploaded proof, and an unsupported claim does not survive scrutiny.
• Your district's or project's recent award history bars re-entry, the department's 2025 notification stated that projects selected previously cannot reapply for two years following their award.
• The annual application window is closed. There is no rolling application; outside the advertised window nothing can be submitted.

What documents are required?

Scan documents clearly before uploading. Verification is done by Child Development Project Officers and ICDS supervisors against the uploaded copies, so a blurred or partial scan is a real risk to an otherwise strong application.

How to apply for the Teelu Rauteli Award

1. Watch for the annual advertisement. The Department of Women Empowerment and Child Development issues it through its portal, wecd.uk.gov.in, and through the state press. The 2025 advertisement was issued in late June.
2. Open the online application on the departmental website and register with your details. Applications for the Teelu Rauteli Award and the Anganwadi Worker Award are invited together.
3. Fill in your personal details and select the field in which you are claiming achievement; social service, education, literature, art, culture, sport, media, environment or bravery.
4. Write the achievement statement describing what you did, over what period, and what changed as a result. Concrete numbers; students enrolled, trees planted, self-help groups formed, medals won — carry the application.
5. Upload the supporting documents: residence certificate, age proof, Aadhaar, bank passbook, photograph and every piece of evidence for the claimed work.
6. Submit before the last date and time. The 2025 window closed on 6 July 2025 at 5:00 PM. Save the acknowledgement or application number.
7. Cooperate with verification. The Child Development Project Officer and the supervisor for your area check the uploaded documents, and a district-level committee followed by a state-level committee makes the final selection.

There is no application fee. No agent or intermediary can secure this award.

How much is the award and when is it paid?

The Teelu Rauteli Award carries Rs 51,000 in cash plus a citation. The prize is a one-time payment, credited to the awardee's bank account, and is not a recurring pension. The award is conferred at a state function on 8 August, usually in Dehradun and usually presided over by the Chief Minister or the Minister for Women Empowerment and Child Development.

Readers should not confuse this with the Teelu Rauteli Special Pension and the Teelu Rauteli Pension Scheme, which are separate Uttarakhand schemes paying a recurring monthly amount to specified categories of women. Sharing the same name, they are administered separately and have their own eligibility rules.

How to check your application status

The department has not published a public status tracker for the award. Practical checks:

1. Keep the application or acknowledgement number generated at submission.
2. Follow up with the District Programme Officer (DPO) for your district, whose contact list is published on wecd.uk.gov.in. The DPO's office coordinates district-level scrutiny.
3. Watch the Latest Updates section of wecd.uk.gov.in, where the department publishes news, government orders and award announcements.

Final selections are announced shortly before 8 August, and awardees are contacted directly by the department or the district office with the details of the function.

Why applications get rejected

• Weak or missing evidence. The most common failure. A strong story with nothing to substantiate it.
• Application submitted after the last date and time. The deadline is a timestamped cut-off, not a courtesy.
• Residence certificate missing or from another state.
• Field mismatch: evidence that does not support the field selected in the form.
• Illegible uploads that the CDPO cannot verify.
• Re-application within the bar period applicable to a previously recognised project.

An unsuccessful application does not bar you from applying again in a later year. Strengthening the evidence file; collecting institutional letters, press clippings and official records through the year: is the most useful preparation.

Where to raise a grievance

• District Programme Officer (DPO) for your district: first point of contact on scrutiny and verification. The DPO contact list is a downloadable PDF on wecd.uk.gov.in.
• Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) for your block, who conducts the first level of document verification.
• Directorate of Women Empowerment and Child Development, Uttarakhand, Dehradun, through the contact page at wecd.uk.gov.in.

Keep a copy of everything you upload. Where an award is announced and the prize money has not reached the bank account, the DPO's office is the right place to follow up with your application number and bank details.