Inter-caste marriage incentive hiked

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Bhubaneswar: The state government Tuesday hiked incentives for inter-caste marriage among Hindus from `1 lakh to `2.5 lakh to encourage such practice.
SC, ST Development Minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi made the announcement here and said the decision would be implemented with retrospective effect September 14, 2017.
The incentive will be given to couples for marriage between upper caste Hindus and SC Hindus to encourage inter-caste marriage. There is no limit on the income of the recipients to avail the incentive. At least 17 per cent of the state’s population is Dalits.
All other processes for avail the benefit remain unchanged. The amount would be given to the couple irrespective of their economic status and the money should be kept in a joint bank account of the couple. The amount cannot be withdrawn within three years of deposit, sources said.
A marriage in which one of the spouses belonged to the Scheduled Caste and the other belonged to a non-Scheduled Caste would be considered for the incentive.
According to the rule, the couple shall have to apply for sanction and will have to execute a bond. If the marriage ends in divorce within five years, the recipients will have to refund the entire amount within a year failing which principal and annual interest of 6.5 per cent would be levied, the source said.
Last year, the government had doubled the amount to `1 lakh from `50,000. Prior to this, the amount was incrsed from `10,000 to `50,000 in 2007. At least 543 couples have availed the benefits in 2017-18.