by Faiqa Masoodi
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir government has booked an expenditure of Rs 3715 lakhs and Rs 5200 lakhs for the year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 respectively, as marriage assistance to girls belonging to economically weaker sections of the society.
An official from Social Welfare Department said that for the year 2021-2022, a total of around 9000 girls from all the 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir registered with the department under the State Marriage Assistance Scheme (SMAS) and an amount of around Rs 3715 lakh was disbursed among them.
After certain changes in the operations of the SMAS scheme in the year 2022, officials said, more girls were covered under its ambit and the amount paid was also increased.
Around 10,000 girls from Kashmir got enrolled with the department after the scheme was revamped and were provided monetary assistance of 5200 lakh by the department of social welfare, the official said.
The scheme was launched in 2015 by Government and has been functioning under department of Social Welfare, Jammu and Kashmir since then.
Under the SMAS scheme the government would earlier provide financial assistance of Rs 25,000 and money for around five grams of gold which would in total amount to Rs 40,000 for the marriage of a girl belonging to low-income family group.
However, the scheme was restructured in the year 2022, with an aim to make it more transparent and its operations hassle free.
Deputy Director social welfare, Akhoon Ashraf said the main aim of the scheme is to raise funds to help the families get their daughters married.
After restructuring, came the new guidelines that gave this scheme a fresh lease of life and made it more viable for the people, he said.
Akhoon Ashraf said one of the major flaws of the old scheme was that it was survey based and would cater to a limited number of girls.
Earlier, the benefits under the scheme were limited only to the girls of marriageable age who figured in the poor girl’s survey conducted by Social Welfare Department, he said.
“A particular number of girls were chosen on basis of a particular study and they would be the only beneficiaries of the scheme. In this process a lot of deserving destitute girls would be left out,” he added.
However, the restructuring changed the scenario and now all the girls falling in the below poverty line are eligible to get benefits of the scheme.
“Now any girl of legally marriageable age belonging to the families of Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) or Priority Household (PHH) ration card holders, will be eligible for one-time financial assistance of Rs. 50,000. There is no need to be a part of any survey now,” he said.
Ever since the scheme was revamped in 2022, the department provided assistance to more than 10,000 girls and disbursed an amount of more than 5200 lakhs among them, he said.
Akhoon Ashraf said that in order to avoid the last moment glitches, the would- be brides should apply at least two months prior to the date of wedding and the assistance would be provided to them on time.
Adding further he said that after restructuring, the scheme has been made completely online. The entire process has been digitized and it’s an end to end online system now. (http://jansugam.jk.gov.in/)
“The girls apply online now, upload their documents online and get the amount directly transferred into their bank accounts, thus making the entire process hassle free,” he said.
The scheme requires the concerned District Social Welfare Officer to verify the details of the beneficiary regarding marital status, age and non-availing of benefits under other schemes like Ladli Beti, besides ensuring disbursement of the financial assistance before the date of marriage through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
Maintaining that forms submitted at times have a lot of discrepancies in them, Akhoon Ashraf said that the families or the girls who need to avail the benefits of this scheme should very carefully submit the documents on the website so that the chances of their forms getting rejected become meager.
“We sometimes get forms that have a lot of discrepancies in them. Applications without requisite details or incomplete details come up to us. In this case we are bound to reject the forms,” he added.
He said that all the eligible prospective brides and their families should read the guidelines carefully to fully avail the benefits of the scheme.
“SMAS is a scheme designed for the economically weaker sections of society. Do the documentation process properly, apply online and take your well deserved money home,” he said.
