Gold for Assam brides with less than Rs 5L family income

Guwahati: Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while placing the budget in the assembly on Wednesday, said the state government would gift one tola of gold to every bride coming from families having an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh.
“A customary ritual, which has been part of the Assamese society for centuries now, is to gift a set of gold ornaments to one’s daughter as a blessing as she leaves her father’s home to start a new life for herself and her family. While other parts of our country may be plagued with the curse of dowry, in our society, this is a voluntary act of assurance from the parents that no matter where she is, their support is always with her,” Sarma said in his budget speech.

To avail the benefit, the marriage has to be formally registered under the Special Marriage (Assam) Rules, 1954, and the one tola gold will reach the beneficiaries right at the time of social marriage.

Sarma added that ‘what may have started as a blessing of support and a form of financial assurance for the new bride is now pushing many parents to borrow money at heavy interest rates.’ “As a father of a young daughter, I can very well empathize with the emotions that a father goes through,” he said.

He added, “I feel this is my solemn responsibility to stand with those fathers who cannot afford to gift a set of gold ornaments to their dearest daughters and at some point of time have to resort to borrowings and put themselves in a vicious cycle of debt. With this sense of responsibility, I am happy to announce that we shall give ‘one tola gold’, costing around Rs. 38,000 as on today, to brides belonging to all such communities of our state where it is customary to provide gold at the time of wedding.”

In order to make this scheme more focused, the gift will be limited to only the economically weaker sections, whose annual income is below Rs 5 lakh. Also, this benefit would be available only for the first two live offsprings of a family and only in cases where the bride and the groom have both attained the legal age of 18 years and 21 years respectively, which will be strictly enforced by verifiying birth certificates and through medical examination, if required.

“Earmarked a sum of Rs 300 crore for this scheme, which has been named Arundhati, wife of the great sage Basistha who was considered to be an epitome of chastity and conjugal bliss,” said Sarma. He added, “For a father, there could be no greater joy than to see his daughter happily married with all the qualities and happiness that of Arundhati.”