Uttarakhand raises incentive for men marrying physically-challenged women to ₹50k

From now on, men marrying physically-challenged women in Uttarakhand will get ₹50,000 as an incentive. The Director General Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) Banshidhar Tiwari announced the cabinet decision in a briefing after a meeting.

So far, Tiwari said the incentive under the Social Welfare Department for other marriages, including inter caste ones was ₹50,000. But for non-physically-challenged men marrying physically-challenged women, the amount was only 25,000. Now, the cabinet decision will lead to a parity in the incentive amounts to be paid by the state Social Welfare Department in these marriages.

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It’s noteworthy here that the Uttarakhand Social Welfare Department, under its Marriage Promotion Grant Scheme, pays ₹50,000 to the couples belonging to different categories coming together to tie the nuptial knot. These included marriages with the daughters of Scheduled Caste and Tribe community members, abandoned married women or the daughters of mentally-challenged men or their wives. Apart from this, there is a provision of similar incentive for intercaste marriages as well.

In another important step, the Dhami government has decided to give a major push to the aromatic plant cultivation in the hill state. The state cabinet stamped its Uttarakhand Mehak Kranti Niti (UMKN) 2026-2036 for bringing in 22750 hectares of its land under aromatic plant cultivation in the next 10 years.

“This decision of the cabinet will improve the economic condition of more than 91,000 farmers in the first phase of the implementation of the policy. It will help establish aromatic plant cultivation as a revolutionary farming activity. It will lead to massive production of select categories of aromatic plants in the state,” said Tiwari.

The farmers taking up aromatic plants farming in less than one hectare of land will be eligible for 80 per cent government grant. The farmers opting for aromatic plants cultivation in more than a hectare land will get 50 per cent grants.

The cabinet also gave a go-ahead to the proposals for restructuring the Uttarakhand Jail Administration and Reform Service and constitution of a correctional wing under it. Apart from this, the Cabinet cleared the proposal for the state government to bear the additional cost of ₹27.85 crore for the construction of 1872 houses for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) under Prime Minister Housing Scheme in district Udhamsingh Nagar.