CM Jagan: Marriage aid sops to curb child marriages
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy with the beneficiaries of YSR Kalyanamasthu and YSR Shaadi Tohfa scheme at the camp office. (Photo by arrangement)
VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said the YSR Kalyanamasthu and YSR Shaadi Tohfa scheme was launched with a view to encouraging education of children from poor families, curbing child marriages, increasing enrolment ratio in schools and decreasing dropout rates with Class 10 pass norm having been made mandatory.
The Chief Minister released Rs 38.18 crore towards the scheme to benefit 4,536 eligible girls who got married during the quarter October-December 2022. The amount would be directly credited into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries belonging to SC, ST, BC, Minority communities, as also the families of the disabled and construction workers.
Depositing the amount at the click of a button here on Friday, Jagan Mohan Reddy explained that the government strongly believed education was the greatest asset a family could give to its children. He also said the eligibility condition that the brides and bridegrooms must have passed Class 10 in order to avail the scheme’s benefit was imposed to encourage children from the weaker sections to pursue education.
Notably, the Telangana government implemented the Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes in 2014, offering a financial assistance of Rs 1,00,116 per person and this is still continuing. Chandrababu Naidu as chief minister started the Chandranna Pelli Kanuka in 2018, offering Rs 30,000 to Rs 75,000 based on community and category a year before the 2019 elections in AP, but this was stopped within months. The scheme was modified by Jagan as YSR Kalyanamasthu and YSR Shaadi Tohfa by increasing the financial assistance on par with the Telangana scheme.
Quoting from the novel ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ authored by Afghan-American novelist Khaled Hosseini, CM Jagan said, “marriage can wait but education cannot,” because “a society has no chance of success if its women are not educated.”
From next quarter, the amount would be credited into the bank accounts of the mothers of eligible girls, he said, observing that this would encourage mothers to send their daughters to schools.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said the beneficiaries were left high and dry during the TD term, when the then-government had stopped the financial assistance scheme from 2018 after failing to pay Rs 68.68crore to 17,709 families. “The YSRC government is implementing the YSR Kalyanamasthu and YSR Shaadi Tohfa in full transparency with enhanced incentives,” he said.
The Chief Minister explained that while SC, ST, BC and Minority beneficiaries got Rs 40,000, Rs 50,000, Rs 35,000 and Rs 50,000 each during the TD rule, the YSRC government hiked these to Rs 1,00,000, Rs 100,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 1,00,000 respectively. While the differently abled people and construction workers received Rs 1,00,000 and Rs 20,000 each in the TD rule, they would now get the hiked benefit of Rs 1,50,000 and Rs 40,000 each respectively.
Similarly, the incentives for SC, ST and BC beneficiaries who opted for intercaste marriage went up to Rs 1,20,000 from Rs 75,000; to Rs 1, 20,000 from Rs 75,000; and to Rs 75,000 from Rs 50,000 respectively for each beneficiary.
The CM, who interacted with some of the beneficiaries, via virtual mode, said the YSR Kalyanamasthu and YSR Shaadi Tohfa, coupled with Amma Vodi, Nadu-Nedu, Vidya Deevena, Vasathi Deevena and Jagananna Gorumuddha would usher in a revolution in the education sector by drastically reducing the dropout rate in schools and increasing the enrolment.
Social welfare minister Merugu Nagarjuna and top officials were also present.
