Child Grant Nepal (Bal Suraksha Anudan): Rate, Eligibility & Districts

The Child Grant, known in Nepali as the Bal Suraksha Anudan and often described as the child nutrition allowance, is a monthly, unconditional cash payment made by the Government of Nepal to families with young children. It is one of five main social security allowances (samajik suraksha bhatta) administered through the Department of National Identity Card and Civil Registration (DoNIDCR) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, alongside the old-age pension, the single-woman's allowance, the disability grant and the endangered-ethnicity grant.

The grant was introduced in the fiscal year 2009/10 (BS 2066/67) in the five districts of the then Karnali zone, following recognition that chronic child undernutrition and poverty were most severe in Nepal's remote hills and the Terai. It was designed both to help families buy food, clothing and other essentials for infants and toddlers, and to encourage the timely birth registration of children, which is a precondition for enrolment.

Although the payment is popularly called a nutrition allowance, it is not restricted to buying food and is not conditional on health checks, immunisation or school attendance. Families receive the cash and decide how to spend it. Evaluations by UNICEF and academic researchers have found the grant improved household food security and sharply increased birth-registration rates in the covered areas.

As of the mid-2020s the Child Grant pays NPR 532 per month for each eligible child. Payment is capped at two children under the age of five per household (counted per mother or primary caregiver), so a family with two qualifying children receives up to NPR 1,064 per month. A child stops being eligible once they turn five.

The rate has been raised repeatedly since the scheme began. It started at NPR 200 per child per month, was increased to NPR 400 around 2016, and later rose to the current NPR 532. Because the amount is revised through the annual national budget, parents should confirm the figure for the running fiscal year with their ward office, as it may change in future budgets.

The two-child cap is a key eligibility detail that many parents overlook. If a third child is born, that child does not add a further payment while two older siblings under five are still enrolled; eligibility for the third child can begin only after an older sibling ages out at five. The grant is paid per qualifying child, not as a single flat family amount.

The Child Grant uses a two-part targeting rule. First, all Dalit children under the age of five are eligible anywhere in the country, in all 77 districts, regardless of where the family lives. Second, all children under five, of any caste or ethnicity, are eligible if they live in one of the districts designated under the programme's phased geographic rollout.

This means eligibility depends either on the child being Dalit or on the family living in a covered district. A non-Dalit family in a district that is not yet covered is not entitled to the grant, while a Dalit family in the same district is. This design was intended to reach the two groups with the highest rates of child poverty and undernutrition first, ahead of a planned nationwide expansion.

There is no separate income or means test beyond these two rules. The main documentary requirement is that the child's birth has been registered and the family can produce the birth registration certificate, along with proof of Dalit status where eligibility is claimed on that basis.

The geographically targeted part of the programme currently covers 25 of Nepal's 77 districts, concentrated in the Karnali, Sudurpashchim (Far-West) and Madhesh (Central Terai) provinces where child poverty is highest. The list has grown in stages: the scheme began in the five Karnali districts of Dolpa, Humla, Jumla, Kalikot and Mugu, then expanded to further hill and Terai districts.

Districts consistently named in official and UN documentation as covered include the five original Karnali districts plus Achham, Bajura, Bajhang, Doti and Jajarkot in the Karnali and Far-West hills, and Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari and Siraha in the Central Terai. Additional districts have been added under later phases to reach the current total of 25. Because the covered list is expanded through the annual budget, the exact set of districts changes over time, so families should confirm their district's status with the local ward office.

Remember that district coverage matters only for non-Dalit children. If your child is Dalit, the grant is available even in districts outside the geographic list. If your child is not Dalit, the grant is available only if you live in a currently designated district.

Registration is done at the local level, through the ward office (warda karyalaya) of the rural or urban municipality where the family lives. The essential first step is birth registration: the parents must register the child's birth and obtain the birth registration certificate (janma darta praman patra) from the ward within the legal window after birth. The Child Grant cannot be enrolled without this certificate, which is why the programme is credited with driving up birth-registration rates.

After birth registration, the family applies to have the child added to the social security allowance roll for the ward. Documents typically required include the child's birth registration certificate, the parents' citizenship certificates, and, where eligibility is claimed on the basis of caste, evidence of Dalit status. The ward records the child in the DoNIDCR social security management system.

The money is disbursed through the same channel as Nepal's other social security allowances, increasingly into a bank account opened in the beneficiary's name rather than as cash over the counter. Payments are released periodically over the year rather than as a single monthly hand-out; parents should check the specific disbursement schedule with their ward, as the timing can vary by local government. Renewal and periodic verification are handled at the ward to keep the records current.

The government has repeatedly stated its intention to expand the Child Grant from the current 25 districts to all 77 districts, making the child nutrition allowance effectively universal for children under five. UNICEF supported the preparation of an expansion strategy, and officials have publicly committed to a nationwide rollout, with fiscal year 2025/26 (BS 2082/83) cited as a target for beginning the expansion.

As of mid-2025, however, the expansion to all districts had not yet been fully implemented, and child-rights groups continued to urge the government to fund it through the national budget. Proposals have also been floated to raise the monthly amount above NPR 532. Until a nationwide expansion is confirmed and funded, the two-part rule described above, Dalit children everywhere plus all children in the designated districts, remains the working eligibility test.

Parents and prospective applicants should treat the district list and the rate as living figures that are set each year in the national budget. The safest way to confirm current entitlement, the applicable rate, and whether a particular district is covered is to ask the ward office directly rather than relying on older published lists.