767 Couples in Telangana Avail Incentive for Inter-Caste Marriages Scheme
Hyderabad: According to Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale, as many as 767 couples have benefited from incentives under the ‘Promotion of Inter-Caste Marriages’ component under the Centrally Sponsored Protection of Civil Rights Act in Telangana in the last three years.
While 119 couples benefited from the program in 2022-23, 243 couples benefited from it in 2023-24 and 404 couples benefited from it in 2024-25. The Union Minister said this in Rajya Sabha two days ago while responding to a question asked by BJP MP K Laxman.
According to the minister, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) is implementing the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Caste (PMS-SC) students’ through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
Under PMS-SC, DBT mode was introduced from 2021-22 and Telangana adopted this mode from 2024-25. However, the State did not share its fee data on the National Scholarship Portal during the Financial Year (FY) 2024-25.
The release of central share of PMS-SC scholarship depends on the State government or Union Territory Administration (UT) sharing the fee data with the National Scholarship Portal.
For Social Integration through inter-caste marriages Dr. Ambedkar Program and Dr. Ambedkar Foundation’s National Assistance Schemes for Victims of SC/ST Atrocities have been incorporated with the Centrally Sponsored Civil Rights Protection Scheme (PCR) Act, 1955 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, with effect from April 1. 2023.
