The wedding scheme launched by the UP government is similar to the mass wedding ceremonies held by the Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led government in Madhya Pradesh where the people’s representatives and the government officials organise such events. Chauhan himself is occasionally present in such weddings to bless the couples.
Lucknow (UP): Dry northerlies have begun to blow; it means winter is knocking at the door. The wedding season is also around the corner. Keeping that in mind, the Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Adityanath has planned to organise “Vivah Pakhwara” or fortnight for community weddings by this month-end.
The purpose of this scheme is to promote the Chief Minister’s “Samoohik Vivah” scheme. Immediately after taking oath as chief minister in 2017, Adityanath announced the scheme. According to official sources, over 1.91 lakh couples have, so far, walked the isles under the project till August this year.
The scheme launched by the UP government is similar to the mass wedding ceremonies held by the Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led government in Madhya Pradesh where the people’s representatives and the government officials organise such events. Chauhan himself is also occasionally present in such weddings to bless the couples. The newly-weds are given a few necessary items including utensils and a sum of Rs 51,000.
In the same way, to ensure the success of the project, the people’s representatives, officials of the local administration and parents of the couples remain present at the wedding ceremonies in Uttar Pradesh.
A government official says the purpose of such weddings is to curb unnecessary expenses. According to official sources, the UP government has kept a budget of more than Rs 600 crore to conduct such weddings. Besides curbing expenses, the government has tried to stop child marriages through such wedding ceremonies.
Under the scheme, the government spends Rs 51, 000 on each couple. A sum of Rs 35,000 is transferred to the accounts of the woman; goods worth Rs 10,000 are bought; and a sum of Rs 6,000 is spent on the ceremony. Nevertheless, to get advantage of the scheme, the income of a family should be less than Rs 2 lakh a year, besides the age of the girl must be above 18 years and that of a boy above 21 years.
