Thread by @jaiminism

Amid a population of 135 crore, only 1.2L beneficiaries received incentives under 'Inter-Caste Marriage scheme' in 7 years. Although it's said that government's motivation to drive social exogamy is noble but is monetary incentivization enough to make the point?

Data here.
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This measure i.e. promoting inter-caste marriages by providing financial assistance to couples marrying to Scheduled Castes (SCs) has been rolled out by governments at central & state levels to eradicate caste-based discrimination & increase intermingling of castes.

2/11

Inter-caste marriages are sanctioned by Special Marriage Act, 1954 and the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Financial assistance of Rs. 2.5 Lakhs is provided to inter-caste couples where one of the spouses belongs to SCs.

As if money alone will undo casteism!

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The amount would be transferred by the concerned authority into a fixed deposit account jointly held by the couple (the first name should be of the woman) in a government/nationalized bank. The lock-in period for the same is 3 years & it cannot be withdrawn before maturity.

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Until 2016-17, the state governments could decide the quantum of incentive which ranged from Rs.10,000 to Rs. 5 Lakh. In 2017, the Ministry amended the scheme to make the incentive uniform across all states/UTs.

Now, the 'black cat is missing' game starts.

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The amount released has since then quadrupled to Rs. 121.89 crores in 2018-19. For 2019-20, the amount released was Rs. 157.05 crores excluding the amount to be released for states and UTs which had not submitted their proposal.

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But, the number of couples where one of the spouses belongs to Scheduled Caste, who have benefitted from this scheme has dropped in the last two years.

So, where is the money going, except planet Jupiter?

7/11

Allocation of funds is done as per the proposal submitted by states/UTs. The more couples apply under the scheme & receive incentives from a state, the more funds a state can apply for. Guess what? The North Indian states, the base of Hindu Rashtra, aren't open to exogamy.

8/11

Then, there are "not enough" takers for the scheme in spite of relaxations.

What's the missing point?

Blame it on stringent norms and lack of awareness, but how come the scheme has pool of allotted funds?

9/11

The census (2011) says that the cases of exogamy reported/surveyed is only 6%. Which means that inter-caste marriages are still disdained and discouraged.

I write: thelipstickpolitico.in/post/caste-and…

10/11

Last but not least, knowingly or unknowingly, the government & society are failing to see how SMA continues to disincentivise inter-caste marriage system article-14.com/post/how-the-s…

Thus, this so-called noble scheme contradicts itself.

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