A year after its creation, the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board has decided to launch two marriage schemes for betterment of the Brahmin community in the state. The two schemes – named ‘Arundhati’ and ‘Maitreyi’ aim to provide monetary benefits to brides from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) among Brahmins.
According to the reports, one of the two schemes offer financial bonds to Brahmin women who marry priests from economically weak background and the other intends to provide Rs 25,000 each for the marriage of 550 women from economically weak families from the community.
Under the Arundhati scheme, 550 Brahmin women from poor background will be provided Rs 25,000 each for their marriage. The Maitreyi scheme will grant a financial bond of Rs 3 lakh, which is to be used over three years, for 25 women who marry Brahmin priests from poor background.
The Maitreyi scheme will require the couples to stay married for three years to avail the entire bond of Rs 3 lakh. The installments of Rs 1 lakh will be paid at the end of each year of the marriage, said Board chairman HS Sachidananda Murthy.
Speaking to the media, Murthy said that they have received the government’s approval to launch the schemes – ‘Arundhati’ and ‘Maitreyi’ and funds have been set aside. We are in the process of chalking out the procedures to avail these funds. This is part of our efforts to assist weaker sections of the community, he said.
“Initially, the Maitreyi scheme with the Rs 3 lakh financial bond was proposed in the name of the bride who marries BPL Brahmin farmers or cooks or priests. However, during my tour across the state, I found that priests were economically very weak and we decided to launch the programme for their benefit to start with,” he added.
Scholarship for Brahmins, monthly honorarium for getting trained to rituals
The Brahmin Board, in addition to financial aid for marriages, has come up with various social welfare schemes for Brahmins. The government had allocated Rs 25 crore of budget funds when it had announced by the creation of the boared in 2018-19 period. The board was created at the end of 2019 when the BJP government headed by BS Yediyurappa came to power.
The government has also launched another scheme in which Rs 500 a month will be provided to nearly 4,000 individuals who is trained in puja rituals and sandhya vandana (evening prayers). The age limit for this scheme is between 8-80 years. Around three per cent of the six crore population in Karnataka belongs to the Brahmin community.
According to Chariman Murthy, an additional Rs 14 crore has also been set aside to help students from poor Brahmin families in the form of scholarships, payment of fees and providing training to those who have passed the preliminary stage of examinations such as the UPSC.
The beneficiaries can avail the benefits by certifying that they do not own five or more acres of agricultural land, a residential flat that is more than 1,000 sq ft, that they do not belong to backward classes or scheduled castes and that the family income is below Rs 8 lakh per annum.