Glossary
NGO Darpan
NITI Aayog's unique ID for NGOs — required to apply to almost any central government scheme.
NGO Darpan is the NITI Aayog-administered portal that issues each Indian NGO a unique 15-character identifier. It replaces the ministry-by-ministry NGO registrations that preceded it: since 2015 every central-government scheme open to NGOs — from the Ministry of Social Justice's SC-welfare programme to CAPART, from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to the National Commission for Women — routes applications through the applicant's Darpan ID.
Registration is free, filed online, and requires the NGO's PAN, its Section 8 / society / trust registration certificate, three trustee identifiers, and a one-time OTP verification. Once issued, the Darpan number is stable and reusable across every ministry.
Without a Darpan ID, an NGO cannot even open the application form on NGO-PS, the ministry-agnostic proposal portal.