Good sense has prevailed on the Omar Abdullah government. The contentious 8th standard pass clause in the State Marriage Assistance Scheme has been done away with. Under the new order, the government has decided to relax the minimum qualification requirement of 8th class pass or equivalent up to March 31, 2028. The relaxation will be effective from April 1, 2025. Most importantly, the girls whose applications were rejected over the qualification clause can also reapply under the new order. The new order comes weeks after the Cabinet had approved amendments to remove the educational qualification requirement under the State Marriage Assistance Scheme. The decision comes two months after the Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh High Court asked the Union Territory administration to re-examine the education clause in the State Marriage Assistance Scheme. A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal disposed of the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Abdul Hamid Rather with a direction to the government to reconsider the clause. Earlier, the government had issued an order fixing Class 8 as the minimum qualification for the girls to avail the benefits of the scheme. However, it triggered a chain reaction with people questioning the move. Under the scheme, an unmarried girl from an Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) family is given Rs 75000 cash assistance for marriage. Likewise, the girl from the Priority Household (PHH) family is entitled to Rs 50,000 cash assistance. The girls can apply online, and after a background check, the money is transferred directly into their accounts. More than 1.45 lakh girls have been covered under the scheme so far. Earlier, unmarried girls from BPL families were provided cash assistance. So far, more than Rs 700 crore have been disbursed among the beneficiaries. This year so far, the government has disbursed Rs 150 crore. Thirty-five years of terrorism have torn apart the social fabric in Kashmir. Late marriages, infertility, and a depleting sex ratio have become rampant in Kashmir. National Family Health Survey data for 2019-20 have revealed that J&K has one of the lowest fertility rates in the country. J&K has also recorded the highest decline in the fertility rate between the 2015-16 survey and the latest one. In 1991, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in Jammu and Kashmir was 3.6. It declined to 2.3 in 2007, and now it has started to ring alarm bells in society. Against this backdrop, the SMAS is a lifeline for poor girls. It gives hope to poor families who cannot afford marriage expenses. The government has done a good job so far. The government should now expand this scheme further. Plus, the cash assistance should also be increased, given the inflation and market dynamics. This will go a long way in making Jammu and Kashmir a true welfare union territory.
Good move
