myScheme.gov.in: find welfare schemes you qualify for - citizen guide 2026

If you are short on time: jump to the 5-minute walkthrough below. Skim the top 30 schemes table to spot the ones you should apply for tonight.

myScheme is the Government of India's unified scheme-discovery portal. It is built and run by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), as part of the Digital India Programme. The portal indexes 4,000+ welfare schemes from every central ministry and 36 states and union territories, in one searchable directory with a built-in eligibility checker.

Think of three siblings:

• UMANG is the doing layer. Once you know which scheme you want, UMANG is often where you apply, check status, and pay.
• DigiLocker is the documents layer. It holds your Aadhaar, PAN, driving licence, marksheets, caste certificate, and other issuer-verified documents.
• myScheme is the discovery layer. It tells you *what* you qualify for. The other two help you apply and prove it.

All three are built by NeGD, share the Aadhaar-based login backbone, and are listed on the same digital-governance roadmap. A reader who learns to use these three in sequence saves hundreds of hours over the next decade.

Three reasons keep most eligible citizens away from welfare benefits.

Discovery is broken. Every ministry runs its own scheme page. Every state runs a portal. A senior citizen in Bihar might qualify for a central pension scheme, a Bihar widow-pension scheme, a Bihar fuel-subsidy scheme, and a central health-insurance scheme - but each lives on a different domain. Before myScheme, finding all four meant visiting 4 portals.

Eligibility rules are dense. Most scheme pages list eligibility in legal language. “Annual family income from all sources not exceeding ₹2,50,000 in BPL/EWS category as defined under the relevant SECC-2011 list.” The reader gives up.

Apply links are scattered. Even when a scheme is found, the apply button may sit on UMANG, on a state portal, in a DBT mission page, or only in a district office. myScheme normalises this with a single Apply button per scheme that routes to the correct destination.

Go to myscheme.gov.in on a phone or laptop. The site supports 8 Indian languages - switch from the top-right corner if you prefer Hindi or a regional language.

The big orange button on the home page launches the eligibility checker. You do not need to log in to run the checker. Login is needed only when you want to save your profile or apply.

The checker asks:

1. State of residence. Pick where you actually live, not where your Aadhaar address shows if different.
2. Gender. Male, female, transgender.
3. Age band. Pick the right bracket - many schemes are age-gated.
4. Caste/social category. General, SC, ST, OBC, EWS, minority.
5. Annual family income. Range, not exact figure.
6. Disability. Yes/no, and percentage if yes.
7. Occupation. Student, farmer, worker, government employee, self-employed, unemployed, homemaker.
8. Education level. Highest qualification.

The whole flow takes 3 to 5 minutes.

The portal returns a card list of every scheme you match. Each card shows:

• Scheme name and the ministry that runs it.
• One-line benefit (“₹6,000 per year direct transfer”).
• Tags (Central / State, sector).
• View Details and Apply buttons.

Sort by benefit size or filter further by sector (education, health, agriculture, housing, women, social welfare, business, scholarship).

Sign in with mobile OTP or Aadhaar OTP. Saving the profile lets myScheme send you alerts when new matching schemes are added - typically within 30 to 60 days of a scheme's official notification.

The table below names 30 of the highest-applied schemes nationally, with the implementing ministry, a one-line eligibility hint, and where the apply link routes to. Verify the live eligibility text on the scheme page before applying - rules change.

Not every scheme has the same apply route. Once you click Apply on a myScheme card, you land in one of four flows.

Pattern A - Direct apply on myScheme. Rare today. A handful of central schemes accept the application form inside the myScheme portal itself with Aadhaar OTP login. Expect more direct-apply integrations as NeGD rolls them out.

Pattern B - Apply via UMANG. Common for central schemes. You are routed to UMANG, log in with Aadhaar OTP, and fill the scheme-specific form. Documents from DigiLocker auto-attach if you consent. See the UMANG walkthrough for how to set up the app.

Pattern C - Apply via state portal (e-District / state DBT mission). Most state schemes and some centrally-sponsored schemes route here. The state portal asks for the same details, plus often a state-specific caste, income, or domicile certificate. See state portal map for the right entry URL per state.

Pattern D - Apply offline at a designated office. Some schemes still require an in-person form submission at the Gram Panchayat, block office, ULB ward office, or designated bank branch. myScheme still serves as the canonical info source - print the scheme page and carry it as your checklist.

Most welfare-scheme applications ask for the same core set. Fetch them once on DigiLocker, save them once on UMANG, and reuse for every scheme.

• Aadhaar. The base ID. See how to enrol or how to download e-Aadhaar.
• PAN. Required for any scheme involving direct cash transfer or loan. See PAN-Aadhaar linking.
• Bank passbook or cancelled cheque. For DBT credit. Aadhaar must be seeded to the bank account.
• Income certificate. Issued by the state revenue department through the state e-District portal.
• Caste / EWS certificate. Same source as above. Required for category-specific schemes.
• Residence / domicile certificate. For state-specific schemes.
• Disability certificate / UDID card. For disability-linked schemes.
• Educational marksheets. For scholarships.
• Land record (RoR, khasra, khatauni). For agriculture schemes.

The DigiLocker issuer guide tells you which of these documents are live and which are stubs.

Once you apply, the scheme implementing department issues an application reference number. Save it. Tracking varies by scheme:

• Central scheme on UMANG. Open UMANG, go to My Services, and the status sits next to the application card.
• State scheme on e-District. Each state has a tracking widget. Karnataka uses Sevasindhu, Tamil Nadu uses e-Sevai, Maharashtra uses Aaple Sarkar.
• Bank-routed scheme (MUDRA, PMEGP). The bank tracks the file. Ask the branch in writing.
• Anganwadi / Panchayat scheme. Status sits with the implementing officer. Ask in writing and demand acknowledgement.

If the tracker shows “under verification” for more than 30 days, move to the RTI route below.

The Right to Information Act 2005 §6 lets any citizen ask any “public authority” for information on a pending file in 30 days. Every welfare scheme has a designated implementing department - and that department has a Public Information Officer (PIO).

When to file. Wait the published SLA for the scheme (typically 15 to 45 days). If you cross the SLA with no status change, file the RTI on Day SLA+1.

Who to address. The PIO of the implementing department. For PM-Kisan, that is the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare at central level and the state agriculture department at field level. For PMAY-Gramin, the Ministry of Rural Development at central and the District Rural Development Agency at field. Most apply for a state-level field officer first - they hold the file.

What to ask for. File-movement notesheet, dates each officer received and forwarded the file, current pending desk, reason for delay, expected disposal date.

How to file. See file RTI online in India for portal-by-portal instructions. Or use the AI RTI Drafter to generate the application text in 90 seconds.

• Wrong state in the filter. A migrant worker living in Maharashtra but with a Bihar Aadhaar address must pick the state where they live and where they will apply, not the Aadhaar address state.
• Income certificate stale or wrong. Income certificates expire (commonly 1 to 3 years). Renew through the state e-District before applying.
• Aadhaar not seeded to bank. Most DBT schemes credit money only to an Aadhaar-seeded bank account. Check via UPI app or branch.
• Caste certificate from wrong state. Caste certificates are state-specific. A migrant must use the certificate from the state they apply in, not the original state.
• Scheme listed but ended. myScheme keeps closed schemes for transparency. Read the Status badge before applying.
• Multiple applications for the same scheme. Most schemes deduplicate by Aadhaar. Filing twice can move both to “rejected - duplicate”. Track first, do not re-file.
• Skipping the eligibility-checker because you “know” you qualify. The checker often surfaces 3 to 5 schemes you did not know existed - including bonus state-level schemes that stack with the central one.

To,
The Public Information Officer
[Name of implementing department, district / state]

Subject: Information under §6 of the Right to Information Act 2005 regarding pending application under [scheme name].

Sir / Madam,

I am an applicant under [scheme name]. My application reference number is [number], submitted on [date] through [portal / office].

Under §6 of the Right to Information Act 2005, please provide:

1. Current status of my application as on date of reply.
2. The notesheet showing dates each officer received and forwarded my file.
3. The desk where my file is currently pending and the name and designation of the officer holding it.
4. The reason for delay, if any.
5. The expected date of disposal.

I attach proof of payment of the prescribed RTI fee of ₹10.

Yours sincerely,
[Name]
[Address]
[Phone / email]

Use the AI RTI Drafter if you want a tailored version for your specific scheme and state in 90 seconds.

The portal lists 4,000+ schemes across central ministries and state governments as of 2026. The exact count moves every week as new schemes are added and closed ones are archived. The home page shows the live counter - check there for the current figure.

No. You can run the checker without logging in. Login is needed only when you want to save your profile, get alerts for new matching schemes, or apply through the in-portal flow. Login is via mobile OTP or Aadhaar OTP.

No. The three are complementary. myScheme tells you what to apply for. UMANG is one of the apply channels. DigiLocker holds the documents you will attach. Most apply flows on myScheme will route you to UMANG or to a state portal, and DigiLocker is the document source.

For a small set of central schemes, yes - the in-portal Aadhaar-OTP flow accepts the form inside myScheme itself. For most schemes the Apply button redirects to UMANG, a state e-District portal, or the scheme's own portal. The card tells you where you are going before you click.

This is the most common problem. Try the alternate channel: the scheme's own ministry portal, UMANG, or the state portal. If all are down, file a §6 RTI to the implementing department through the online RTI portal asking for the current apply route and reason for downtime. Cite the broken URL.

Yes. The portal supports 8 Indian languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, and Bengali (in addition to English). Switch from the top-right corner. Translations cover the scheme summary, eligibility text, and the checker.

NeGD typically lists a new central scheme within 30 to 60 days of its official notification. State schemes can take longer (60 to 120 days) since each state department uploads its own data. If a scheme you know about is missing, you can request inclusion through the Contact Us link.

Yes. Run the checker with their profile inputs (state, age, income, category, occupation). You do not need their Aadhaar to run the checker. You will need each person's documents only when you go to apply.

The portal focuses on government schemes - central, state, and centrally-sponsored. A few public-sector undertaking (PSU) and government-corporation schemes are included. Private CSR scholarships are out of scope and live on their own portals.

The checker is rule-based and reads the published eligibility text exactly. If your case is borderline - for instance, your income is on the band edge or your disability percentage is just under the threshold - apply at the implementing office anyway with documents. The portal is a discovery tool, not a final adjudication.

Without login, the checker runs on the inputs you type and does not store them against an identity. Once you log in or apply, data flows through the Aadhaar consent layer governed by the DPDP Act 2023. Read the privacy notice on the scheme page before you authorise document fetch from DigiLocker.

• Now (5 min). Open myscheme.gov.in and run the eligibility checker for yourself.
• Next (5 min). Save your profile with mobile OTP.
• Next (5 min). Run the checker again for each adult family member (parents, spouse, children over 18).
• Next (10 min). Pick the highest-benefit scheme from your list. Open it, read documents required, and check which you already have on DigiLocker.
• Next (5 min). If a document is missing, open DigiLocker and fetch from the right issuer, or apply for the missing certificate on the state e-District portal.

• myScheme portal: https://www.myscheme.gov.in/
• National e-Governance Division (NeGD): https://negd.gov.in/
• Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY): https://www.meity.gov.in/
• Digital India Programme: https://www.digitalindia.gov.in/
• UMANG portal: https://web.umang.gov.in/
• DigiLocker: https://www.digilocker.gov.in/
• Right to Information Act 2005, §6 (request for information): https://rti.gov.in/
• Online RTI portal (central): https://rtionline.gov.in/

• UMANG app: complete citizen services walkthrough
• DigiLocker: what works and what doesn't in 2026
• State grievance portals compared (Jansunwai, Samadhan, Sevasindhu)
• State RTI master guide
• State RTI portals directory
• Citizen RTI playbook
• RTI tools master guide
• RTI Act 2005 explained simply
• File an RTI online in India
• Tool: AI RTI Drafter

Last reviewed: 2026-05-16 by the RTI Wiki editorial team. Verify scheme eligibility on the official myScheme page before you apply - rules change.