Uttarakhand govt paying cash incentives to inter-caste, inter-faith couples

Amid several BJP-ruled states contemplating to enact a law to check the alleged religious conversion of women in the name of marriage, the Uttarakhand government is paying Rs 50,000 to inter-caste and inter-faith couples to encourage such alliances. .

The cash incentives are given to all legally registered inter-faith Indian couples, said officials of the state Social Welfare Department. In cases of inter-caste marital marriages, one condition for availing the cash incentive is that one of the spouses should be from the scheduled caste as defined by Article 341 of the Constitution, they said.

The amount given as inter-caste and inter-religious marital alliances can be extremely helpful in promoting the spirit of national unity, said Tehri's Social Welfare Officer Dipankar Ghildiyal said. The eligible couples can apply for the cash incentive till one year after the marriage, he said.

The amount being given jointly to such couples was increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 in Uttarakhand in 2014 through an amendment in the Uttar Pradesh Antarjatiya/Antardharmik Vivah Protsahan Niyamawali, 1976 which had been adopted as it was when Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000.