Mubashir Aalam Wani
Srinagar, Feb 14: Mohammad Saleem, a daily wager for years, has been saving his hard-earned money for his daughter’s marriage.
Last year when the wedding date was fixed, he fell short of money.
Depressed, he thought of borrowing some amount from his relatives.
It was then, one of his relatives informed him about the State Marriage Assistance Scheme (SMAS) being implemented in Jammu and Kashmir to financially help the underprivileged women.
“The amount disbursed by the social welfare department helped us a lot. My daughter got married last year and we managed to buy essential items required for the wedding rituals,” he said.
In Jammu and Kashmir, scores of the financially underprivileged families avail the benefits of the SMAS to get their daughters married.
As per the figures, a total of 18976 underprivileged women from Kashmir have availed the benefits of the scheme since its inception in 2015.
Data reveals that 1220 beneficiaries have availed the benefits of the scheme in Srinagar. From Baramulla , the social welfare department sanctioned 3306 cases under the scheme.
In Bandipora and Kupwara, as many as 2456 and 1857 women, respectively, have availel benefits under the scheme.
Social welfare department has sanctioned 1118cases in Ganderbal. In southern Kashmir’s Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian and Kulgam, 1593, 2370, 894 and 2084 women, respectively have availed benefits under the scheme.
SMAS is a Social Assistance Scheme implemented by the Social Welfare Department to financially assist un-married identified women in Jammu and Kashmir who belong to the below poverty line category.
Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Council headed by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha earlier in 2022 restructured the State Marriage Assistance Scheme to provide benefits to all AAY and PHH families.
As per the restructured scheme, 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.
An official said the number of beneficiaries under the scheme has been increasing every year.
“Throughout Jammu and Kashmir, scores of underprivileged women apply for the scheme and their cases are being speedily approved. The department after official verifications disburse the amount to the beneficiaries,” he said.
