Incentives: inter-caste couples denied their due

NALGONDA: Cash incentives to be given to inter-caste married couple under financial assistance scheme still continue to elude 217 couples.

While successive governments showed no commitment in granting funds under the scheme, the payment of incentives have been pending even to couples married some six years back. Appreciating the government for introducing Kalayana Lakshmi scheme, under which Rs.51,000 cash incentive will be given to eligible tribal and dalit girl marriages, an inter-caste couple married in 2008 appealed to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to give more priority to the said couples by paying incentives immediately after presenting marriage registration certificate, besides enhancing the incentive to Rs. 1 lakh.

The State government gives Rs.10,000 from BC Welfare Department if a BC marries another BC from different caste or OC. A total of 103 applications of inter-caste married couples have been pending with the BC Welfare Department in district. An official said they need Rs. 10.30 lakh to clear all the applications. The Tribal Welfare and Social Welfare departments give Rs.50,000 incentive to inter-caste marriages. As many as 54 applications are pending with the Tribal Welfare Department, which needs Rs.23.40 lakh to clear them.

The SC Department has 60 pending applications and it needs Rs.26.40 lakh to settle them. Speaking to The Hindu, a BC woman, who married a SC boy in 2009, said that they are still being ostracized by both their families. “My husband applied to the SC Welfare Department seeking the cash incentive in 2009, but we are yet to get the benefit even five years after our marriage,” she complains. They urged the Chief Minister to revamp the scheme and extend immediate benefit. In Nalgonda, 217 couples await the amount promised by the government, and still face social and financial problems.

Source: The Hindu