Financial aid for girls marriage from poor families now limited to one beneficiary

Hyderabad: Families from the economically backward sections that hoped to get financial aid for weddings under the Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi schemes are finding that the schemes are now limited to just one beneficiary from a family.

The government orders pertaining to the eligibility criteria for these two schemes are silent about the restriction on the number of beneficiaries from a family.

In the past, there were instances of more than two young women from the same family receiving the schemes’ benefit. Shaadi Mubarak and Kalyana Lakshmi schemes provide beneficiary families with a financial aid of ₹1,00,116 in the form of a grant from the state government to cover the costs of the wedding.

Even until two weeks ago, people were able to file applications online at the state government portal http://epasswebsite.cgg.gov.in for their second or third daughters. But, during the past fortnight, people have not been able to submit their applications online as officials said the portal was being upgraded.

On Tuesday, the portal was reopened for filing of applications. But some families that sought to apply for the grant for the second time, for marriage of their daughters, found that the system rejected their application.

Social activist Mohammed Khalid said he had in the past helped poor parents in filing the online applications for the second or third girl from a family. The synchronization of the Aadhaar numbers of the parents on the server of the portal may be creating this problem. It was possible these numbers could get automatically flagged as they were in the list of previous beneficiaries.

A senior official at the minority welfare department clarified that there has been no fresh communication from the government recommending any such restriction. “We will inquire into it with the Centre for Good Governance,” the official said.