WB: Mamata govt rolls out 'Rupashree' for poor women's marriages
What's the story
The West Bengal government has rolled out Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's dream project 'Rupashree' which provides one-time financial support to the marriages of poor women.
'Rupashree' scheme follows the chief minister's ambitious 'Kanyashree' project which has drawn global applause.
The application form for the 'Rupashree' scheme has been made available since Wednesday last across the state, an official said.
Here's more.
'Rupashree' scheme
Before marriage, the woman needs to fill form and submit
The 'Kanyashree' scheme under which a beneficiary gets an annual scholarship of Rs. 500 and a one-time grant of Rs. 25,000 aims at incentivizing schooling of teenaged girls and delaying their marriages until their legal age is 18.
For the 'Rupashree' scheme, a woman has to fill the application form before her marriage and submit it to the Block Development Officer or Municipality Office.
Information
The benefits of the 'Rupashree' scheme
An amount of Rs 25,000 will be credited to her bank account before her marriage. A sum of Rs. 1,500 crore has been earmarked for the project which is expected to benefit about six lakh women belonging to the economically poor families.
Eligibility
No minimum educational qualifications required for Rupashree scheme
Under the 'Rupashree' scheme announced on January 31 this year and is operational now, the women must be a permanent resident of West Bengal and be above 18 years at the time of their marriages with a cap on the annual family income of Rs. 1.5 lakh.
No minimum educational qualifications are required to apply for the scheme, the official said.
Application forms
Application forms for 'Rupashree Prakalpa' available at Municipality Offices
The application forms for 'Rupashree Prakalpa' is available at the Municipality Office as well BDO and SDO and the application process is likely to start online very soon.
"Many poor families find it extremely difficult to bear the expenditure of marriage of the daughters and have to borrow at a high rate of interest to bear the expenses," said one senior government official.