Incentive award for marriage with disabled person scheme
Not many aware of noble scheme
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 22 2025: "The Incentive Award for a Marriage With A Disabled Person," remains largely unknown to the public though it was launched in 2013 to support and encourage marriages involving specially abled individuals.

As the scheme which is being taken up with the Social Welfare Department as the nodal department remains largely unknown to the public, there's a pressing need to popularize this initiative, ensuring that more people are aware of and can benefit from it.

Despite low number of beneficiaries, applications for the award saw a relative surge last year.

According to official reports, 661 individuals have benefited from the scheme so far-29 beneficiaries in 2013-14; 31 in 2014-15; 20 in 2015-16; 22 in 2016-17; 45 in 2017-18; 50 in 2018-19; 45 each in 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23; 66 in 2023-24 and 218 in 2024-25 .

Individuals who don't register their marriage cannot apply for the scheme.

Moreover, the applicants of the scheme must be a domicile of Manipur and their disability percentage must not be less than 40 pc.

To be eligible, women must be 18-45 years old and men must be 21-45 years old.

Under the scheme, women marrying differently abled men receive Rs 15,000 as an incentive, while men marrying differently abled women receive Rs 20,000 .

If both the bride and groom are differently abled, the couple receives Rs 35,000 .

Speaking to The Sangai Express in this regard, an official of the Social Welfare Department said that the low rate of marriage registration in the State significantly hampers the scheme's outreach and effectiveness.

Saying that the scheme aims to empower differently abled individuals by encouraging them to integrate into society, rather than hiding at home, he said that people from all walks of life need to support and empower them to foster inclusivity and acceptance.

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