Financial Assistance To The Child Victims Of Violence Under TheNational Foundation For Communal Harmony(FACVV-NFCH)

Overview

About FACVV-NFCH

Financial assistance to the child victims of violence under the National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH) is a monthly grant for the care and education of a child whose parents, or whose family's main earner, died or were permanently incapacitated in communal, caste, ethnic or terrorist violence. In Jammu and Kashmir the file starts at the District Social Welfare Office, but NFCH, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Home Affairs, sets the rules and pays. The amounts and age limits on the scheme's myScheme listing are NFCH's rules from before 2012, and NFCH's own website no longer opened when we checked in September 2026, so ask the District Social Welfare Officer whether fresh cases are being taken before building a file.

Project 'Assist' is NFCH's flagship scheme, paying child and youth victims of communal, caste, ethnic or terrorist violence all over the country. By the end of 2024 the project covered 166 districts in 24 States and Union Territories, 14,209 children had benefited from it, and Rs 109.35 crore had been provided since 1992, according to the MHA Annual Report 2024-25.

That annual report is the most recent official account of Project Assist we could find. NFCH's website at nfch.nic.in did not resolve when we checked in September 2026, and we found no notice of a new address, a merger or a closure. The NFCH guidelines, form and lists cited on this page are archived copies of the Foundation's own files. Until the District Social Welfare Officer or NFCH says otherwise, treat the scheme as last confirmed running at the end of 2024, not as open today.

Jammu and Kashmir is the largest single share of the work. NFCH's district-wise list of assisted children adds up to 14,077 children, the total its Project Assist note gives for everyone covered since 1992 as of March 2023. Of those, 6,765 are in Jammu and Kashmir across 20 districts, close to half the national count, and Kupwara's 1,702 is the highest figure for any district on the list.

The listing below describes the scheme as funded by the Union Territory, yet NFCH's Project Assist note says the Foundation checks the District Committee's proposal and remits the assistance itself. The J&K Social Welfare Department handles the district end: Shopian district's Social Welfare page lists a scholarship under the National Foundation for Communal Harmony among the schemes its office implements. NFCH's Annual Report 2014-15 also named J&K's Council for Rehabilitation of Widows, Orphans, Handicapped & Old Persons as helping to run Project Assist in the state.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

NFCH takes Project Assist proposals from District Committees without a published calendar: its note gives no window or last date, and the listing has none either. The dates that decide a case are the family's own: the date of the incident, which the form asks for; the child's age, since assistance is admissible only up to 25; and the date on the income certificate, which stays valid for three years (Project Assist note). By contrast, MHA's scheme for civilian victims asks state and district authorities to file claims within one year of the incident (CSACV guidelines and FAQs), and NFCH's note names no such limit.

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

NFCH's 2023 Project Assist note puts three tests on the child (Project Assist note). The child must be an orphan or destitute, meaning both parents, the surviving parent or the family's main breadwinner died or became permanently incapacitated in communal, caste, ethnic or terrorist violence. The note caps the annual income of the victim's family at Rs 2 lakh. And the child must not already be getting regular assistance from another source. Assistance is admissible up to the age of 25 years.

The listing below asks instead for a Below Poverty Line family and a child under 18, extendable to 21 in exceptional cases. Those were NFCH's own conditions until 2012. Its Annual Report 2011-12 records that the Governing Council, meeting on 21 November 2011, replaced the BPL condition with an income ceiling of Rs 1 lakh a year and raised the upper age limit from 18 to 25 years, to take effect from 2012-13. The later Project Assist note puts the ceiling at Rs 2 lakh.

The income-certificate specimen printed with the NFCH application form still describes the family's income as below the poverty line. A family that holds a BPL card can file it along with an income certificate stating the actual annual income, so the file meets both descriptions.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

Neither the listing nor NFCH publishes an exclusion list, but the application form closes the door on some cases through what it demands (NFCH application form). The police must certify that the person who died was not involved in militant or communal activities, so a family that cannot obtain that certificate cannot complete the file. The applicant must also sign a declaration that the child is not getting assistance from any other source. One-time help from the government, including a pension, is asked for separately on the form, and the listing states that one-time assistance does not count as another source.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

The assistance does not renew itself. For each continuation, the District Committee has to send NFCH a school or college continuation certificate and an income certificate, and an income certificate once issued stays valid for three years (Project Assist note). The same note ends the assistance if the child fails to move up to the next class for more than three consecutive years, and it stops altogether at 25.

Renewals are most of what the project handles. During 2024, NFCH approved 2,357 cases, of which 114 were fresh and 2,243 were renewals, at a cost of Rs 3.99 crore, according to the MHA Annual Report 2024-25.

What you get

Award & benefits

The monthly amount depends on the child's stage of study, not on the city the family lives in. NFCH's 2023 note sets the scale below, beside the one in its 2014-15 annual report:

The same three rates, Rs 1,250, Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,750 a month, appear on Shopian district's Social Welfare page against financial assistance to orphans who are victims of terrorism or militancy, paid by direct benefit transfer.

The listing below shows a different scale: Rs 800 a month in Class A and B cities and Rs 750 elsewhere, until the child turns 18. That is the scale NFCH's Annual Report 2011-12 describes, and the same report records the Governing Council's switch to a scale by stage of study from 2012-13.

The listing's accident-insurance amounts have no counterpart in NFCH's 2023 note, which describes only the monthly scale (Project Assist note). Ask the District Social Welfare Officer in writing whether that cover still applies before counting on it.

• General Education: Children in Class A & B cities receive ₹ 800/- per month until they reach the age of 18 years.
• Children in other places receive ₹ 750/- per month until they reach the age of 18 years.
• Training / Vocational Education: ₹ 150/- per month per child in addition to assistance for general education.
• Group Personal Accident Insurance for Child Victims: Loss of 2 limbs or one limb and one eye: ₹ 25,000/-.
• 100% permanent disablement other than those mentioned above: ₹ 25,000/-.
• Reimbursement of medical expenses incurred by a child for treatment in a hospital or nursing home and as an indoor patient for an injury sustained in an accident (based upon a medical certificate from the consulting doctor): ₹ 500/-.

What to prepare

Documents required

The listing's documents prove who the child is and where the family lives. The NFCH form adds the papers that prove what happened to the family (NFCH application form):

The form also prints specimens for the study, income and birth certificates, and each is marked "No overwriting permitted". A certificate carrying a handwritten correction is worth getting reissued before the file goes in.

Step by step

How to apply

Given the doubt over NFCH's current status, the first step is to ask the District Social Welfare Office whether it is still forwarding fresh cases. The application itself is on paper and is checked twice in the district, first by a revenue officer and then by the District Committee, before it reaches NFCH (NFCH application form). The steps, in order:

1. Collect the form from the District Social Welfare Office. A scanned copy of the NFCH form is also posted on District Samba's website.
2. Fill Part I in block letters, with the child's photograph pasted on it. The person filling it can be the child's parent, a foster parent or a registered voluntary organisation, which matters for a child with no surviving parent.
3. Use a separate form for each child in the family.
4. Have the Tehsildar, Block Development Officer or a Revenue Officer sign and seal Part I to confirm the details.
5. Hand the form and documents to the District Social Welfare Office.
6. The District Committee fills Part II, signed by the District Magistrate or Collector. It records whether the child needs placing with a voluntary institution, in foster care or adoption, or with a near relation or family friend, and names the person to whom the money should be sent.

From there the District Committee forwards its recommendation to NFCH, which checks it again and pays (Project Assist note).

Tracking the File and the Payment

We found no online tracker for this scheme, and the listing below takes offline applications only. NFCH remits the money into the beneficiary's Aadhaar-linked bank account and informs the District Committee when it does so (Project Assist note). That makes the District Social Welfare Office the place to ask whether a case has been sanctioned, and the bank passbook the place to see the credit.

Some district offices publish where their NFCH payments stand. Shopian's Social Welfare page records the month up to which payment had been made and how many cases were still under process for sanction.

NFCH has also published district-wise release statements. Its statement of assistance released during 2021-22 listed 238 children in Kupwara, 12 of them fresh cases and 226 renewals.

How winners are picked

Selection process

NFCH's note sets no merit ranking and no fixed number of places. A child is selected by passing the eligibility test before a District Committee chaired by the District Magistrate, Collector or Deputy Commissioner, with members such as the Superintendent of Police, the District Social Welfare Officer, the District Education Officer and the District Child and Women Development Officer (Project Assist note). The committee identifies the children, checks their eligibility and sends its recommendations to NFCH, which checks them once more before paying.

Identification does not rely only on families coming forward. The Ministry of Home Affairs shares the data on its portal for civilian victims of terrorist, communal and Left Wing Extremist violence with NFCH to help it implement Project Assist, according to the MHA Annual Report 2024-25.

Fine print

Terms & conditions

NFCH pays only into the beneficiary's Aadhaar-linked bank account, so linking Aadhaar to the account named on Part II is part of getting paid (Project Assist note). If a parent or guardian of the child gets a job while the assistance is running, the family has to declare it voluntarily to the district authorities, who in turn inform NFCH.

Get help

Contact

The District Social Welfare Officer of the child's home district is the first contact for the form, the file and the payment status. In the Kashmir division, the Directorate of Social Welfare sits at Block-A, Old Secretariat, Srinagar (0194-2479645) and publishes the landline of each district office (Directorate of Social Welfare, Kashmir):

In the Jammu division, the Directorate of Social Welfare is at Hajj House, Block-A, 2nd Floor, near Bahu Plaza, Jammu 180012, on 0191-2472600, 2475700 and 2478400 (Directorate of Social Welfare, Jammu). The Social Welfare Department itself is at the Civil Secretariat, Jammu/Srinagar, on 0191-2542759 (Department of Social Welfare, J&K).

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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References

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