The paperwork you'll need, all in one place

Almost every scheme and application on this site circles back to the same handful of documents. Collecting them once, in one folder with a few photocopies of each, saves you from re-starting the hunt every time a new form asks for proof of the same thing.

The core set: Aadhaar cards for the child and parents, passport-size photos, a birth certificate, an income certificate from the local revenue office, a Goa residence certificate where state schemes require it, a bank passbook for direct transfers, and the written diagnostic report that starts the whole process. The Disability Certificate and UDID sit on top of these — they're built from this base, not a replacement for it.

None of these expire quickly, so there's no harm in gathering them well before you need them. What does vary is turnaround time — an income or residence certificate from a local government office can take one to a few weeks, so if you know a scheme application is coming, start there first.