Kalyana Lakshmi amount up by 25k

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced an increase in the beneficiary amount under Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes being implemented by his government.

Making a brief statement in the Assembly here on Monday, the Chief Minister said the beneficiary amount under the Kalyana Lakshmi and Shaadi Mubarak schemes would be enhanced from the present Rs 75,116 to Rs 1, 00,116.

Terming the scheme dearer to his heart, KCR said that sometimes traditions would also become a burden for the people facing poverty. It was due to such circumstances, marriage has become a costly affair and marriage of girls has become a burden for the poor. “Due to this, many parents, who traditionally respect girl child as their household deity (Mahalakshmi), are being forced to consider the girl as a burden on them,” he said.     

The sorry state affairs have reached such a pass that when the girl is in the womb itself, parents are forced to think about the expenses of getting her married and are indulging in foeticide and similar kind of inhuman incidents. In some cases, the girls in the houses of poor are remaining as spinsters. Further, many families are getting into the debt trap after performing the marriage of girls.

Though the scheme was initially meant for SCs and STs and a similar scheme Shaadi Mubarak was meant for minorities, the same has been extended to all. So far 3.6 lakh people have benefitted from the scheme, he said.  Besides, helping the poor girls of the marriageable age, the scheme had also achieved other societal milestones. The scheme could be availed only by those with a minimum of 18 years of age. This stipulation, in turn, helped in preventing child marriages.