Inter-caste weddings witness upward trend

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25

Inter-caste marriages, where one of the partners is from the Dalit community, are on the rise in the conservative and caste-ridden khapland, notorious for honour killings.

Credit it to the Rs2.5-lakh incentive offered by the state government under a scheme or the changing social trends, such inter-caste marriages have registered a jump from 249 in 2014-15 to 684 in 2017-18.

The number jumped to 359 in 2015-16 and 465 in 2016-17. As many as 638 such couples tied the knot in 2018 to date, sources said.

In fact, there had been a steady increase in the registration of marriages and availing of benefits by such couples across the state under the Mukhyamantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana.

Krishan Kumar Bedi, Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, termed the increase in the number of inter-caste marriages as a ‘welcome trend’.

Officials highlighted that the number of such marriages had increased significantly after the state government hiked the incentive from Rs1.01 lakh to Rs2.5 lakh this year.

They said financial aid, which was provided in the shape of a three-year fixed deposit in the couple’s joint account, was only provided at the time of first marriage.

“The encouraging response to the scheme will go a long way in instilling communal harmony and brotherhood in the caste-ridden Haryanavi society,” officials asserted.