Transgender residents in Sikkim can now claim ₹12,000 monthly aid: here’s how

Transgender residents of Sikkim who belong to below poverty line households can now apply for direct monthly financial support, free education, and an unemployment allowance under a state welfare scheme that has quietly run since 2013. The Sikkim Grant of Award to Transgender (SGATT), administered by the Department of Women & Child Welfare, Government of Sikkim, targets transgender individuals who have no regular income, no financial backing from family, and are not already receiving a pension from the state or central government.

To qualify, an applicant must be a resident of Sikkim, identify as transgender, and belong to a household classified as below poverty line. The scheme also requires that applicants not be drawing a salary, pension, or family pension from the central government or any other state government, and that they have already opened a bank account under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana before applying.

The financial support under SGATT comes in three parts. The scheme provides a monthly amount of ₹12,000 to transgender beneficiaries in the 0-6 age group, according to the scheme’s published benefit details. It also guarantees 100% free education up to the graduation level for eligible beneficiaries. Separately, if a beneficiary remains unemployed after obtaining the required educational or technical qualification, the scheme pays a monthly allowance of ₹500 until they secure work.

Applicants can apply through both offline and online routes. For the offline process, an applicant must approach their concerned Gram Panchayat, Municipality, or Municipal Corporation office, consult the designated authority there, and collect the application form. Once filled in with all mandatory fields and attached with self-attested documents, the form is submitted to the designated receiving authority. A selection committee then scrutinizes the application before the Secretary grants approval, after which payment orders are endorsed to the District Collector, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Revenue Officer, and the local Panchayat. Disbursal happens either through the Block Development Officer’s office or via Direct Benefit Transfer. Those who prefer to apply online can register through the portal at pensionscheme.sikkim.gov.in using its ‘Create Account’ option before logging in to complete the process.

The documents required include three recent passport-size photographs, an attested photocopy of a Sikkim Subject Certificate or Certificate of Identification, an income certificate, a caste certificate, an attested photocopy of the Below Poverty Line certificate, a birth certificate or Electoral Photo Identity Card as age proof, an attested copy of the Aadhaar card, an attested photocopy of the first page of the bank or post office passbook along with a copy of the latest updated account, and a medical certificate issued by the Head of Department of Medicine, Gynecology, Pediatrics, or Surgery at STNM Hospital or a district hospital. The scheme carries no application deadline, but payments stop from the date of a beneficiary’s death or their permanent migration outside Sikkim, at which point the passbook must be surrendered to the department.

Source: myscheme.gov.in

Wikimedia Commons/by Rajani Gairshail