With changing times, people’s adherence to rudimentary and traditional approaches to several aspects of life has begun to loosen up. Marriage has been one such traditional aspect that is experiencing change. People are now supportive of inter-caste marriages and the focus has now gotten to having two willing individuals hitched, as opposed to the traditional idea of having two individuals from the same caste, creed, or religion.

The government of Odisha has also shown interest in this change and has launched an intercaste marriage scheme to promote such marriages in society. The scheme goes by the name Odisha Sumangal portal.

What is the Odisha Sumangal Portal all about?

The Odisha Sumangal portal aims to rid off the social stigma of caste differences and aims to bring in a sense of uniformity among its citizens. The main objective of the scheme is to encourage and offer a platform for social integration and actively work towards the removing untouchability from all walks of life.

Cash incentives will also be offered to willing citizens to go forth with intercaste marriages, as traditional families might hold up finances to avoid the wilful union of two people intending to start a family together.

Registration procedure of the Odisha Intercaste marriage scheme

In order to avail the benefits of the Odisha Intercaste marriage scheme, the following procedure needs to be followed:

Who can benefit from the Odisha Sumangala scheme?

  1. The marriage should be valid as per the law and duly registered under the Hindu Marriage act 1955
  2. Both the spouses should be citizens of India and should be permanent residents of Odisha and should be professing the Hindu religion
  3. One of the spouses should belong to the scheduled castes as defined under Article 341 of the constitution of India
  4. The grant will be offered only once – which means that it will be applicable for a couple marrying for the first time. Exceptions will be made in case the bride is a widow or the groom is a widower, which should be clearly mentioned in the marriage registration certificate.
  5. No incentive is available on a second marriage or subsequent marriage.

Documents needed for the scheme

  1. Scanned photocopy of the registered marriage certificate
  2. Scanned photocopy of caste certificate of both spouses stating the community and the sub-caste to which they belong
  3. Scanned joint photo of the couple
  4. Scanned copy of Declaration form duly signed: Annexure-II and Annexure-IV
  5. Scanned photocopy of the joint bank passbook of the couple in any governmental or nationalized bank