Dr. Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration: Recent Changes

On Dr. Ambedkar Mahaparinirvan Diwas, 2017 (December 6, 2017), the union government has announced lifting up of the income ceiling for receiving benefits under the ‘Dr Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration’. So far, only couples who have a total annual income of Rs 5 Lakh or lower could avail benefits under this scheme. But henceforth, it has been announced that the scheme will be applicable to all inter-caste married couples. Some relevant questions:

What is the intention behind ‘Dr Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration’?

The scheme was launched in 2013 by the Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment to promote inter-caste marriage and the social upliftment of Dalits. Under this scheme, the ministry provides Rs 2.5 lakh cash incentive to every inter-caste marriage, if the bride or bridegroom happens to be a Dalit. The scheme was applicable to those couple whose total annual income was less than Rs 5 Lakh.

The scheme is being administered by the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation, which is an autonomous government-sponsored body established with an intention to spread Bhimrao Ambedkar’s ideas of social justice.

In India, marriages often take place on the traditional grounds of caste. So, couples who marry outside of their caste are often subjected to social ostracisation. In these instances, this scheme aims to provide financial help to these couples so that they can settle down in the initial years of their marriage.

Second, the scheme hopes to promote inter-caste marriages in India and reduce caste prejudices in the society. It is also expected that this scheme would spread the values of liberty, equality, fraternity in the society.

What are the salient features of the scheme?

• To get benefits under this scheme, one of the spouses should belong to Scheduled Caste and the other should belong to a Non-Scheduled Caste.
• The marriage should have to be duly registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Also, the couples should submit an affidavit to ascertain the legality of their marriage.
• It is required that it should be the first marriage for both spouses. The scheme does not offer any incentive for the second and subsequent marriages.
• The couples should have submitted the proposals within a year of marriage.
• The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has the discretion to sanction the cash incentives to the Couple.
• The scheme has a target of sponsoring 500 such inter-caste marriages a year. For the states and UTs, the target has been fixed in proportion to their share of the scheduled caste population.

What are the new changes made to this scheme?

The union government has altered the eligibility criteria for this scheme. As stated above, the income limit of Rs 5 lakhs for receiving the benefits has been lifted. Second, the government has made it mandatory for the couples to share their Aadhaar numbers and details of their Aadhaar-linked joint bank account.

Why the government did remove the income ceiling?

It was observed that many similar schemes run by various states across the country had no income limit. So, it was decided by the union government to remove the income ceiling in order to promote social integration.

Which states sponsor similar initiatives?

Some states such as Odisha, Haryana, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have such schemes in place. For example:

• Odisha government is offering 1 Lakh as cash incentive to inter-caste married couples irrespective of their financial background. The state has given away cash incentives to around 4100 couples between 2010 and 2016.
• Bihar government is offering an incentive of Rs 1 Lakh to those couples who have married out of their caste. Similarly, the inter-caste marriage incentives by Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan governments are ₹75,000 and ₹5 lakh respectively.
• Haryana government, under the Mukhya Mantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana, has been giving a cash incentive of ₹01 lakh for couples in which one spouse belongs to scheduled caste and the other to Non-Scheduled Caste. According to estimates, the state has given a financial aid of about ₹1 crore to 161 couples.
• Karnataka government offers cash incentive of ₹3 lakh in cases where the wife is from a Scheduled Caste community and ₹2 lakh in case the husband is.
• Maharashtra government is in the process of drafting an Inter-Caste Marriage Act. The act aims to provide financial support as well as priority in employment to inter-caste couples.
• In case of the UTs, the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department of Puducherry has been offering Rs. 1 lakh as cash incentive to support inter-caste marriages.

What are issues with such schemes?

Though, the changes made by the union government to the ‘Dr Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration’ is a welcome gesture, much more needs to be done to realize the aims and objectives of this scheme. For instance, in 2015, according to Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, only 19 out of 500 eligible inter-caste couples across the country were sanctioned the cash incentives under this scheme in that year. That too all the 19 beneficiaries belonged to only 6 states- Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, New Delhi, West Bengal, Haryana and Rajasthan. This data highlights the ineffectiveness of this scheme.

Further, the schemes of this nature have been unable to promote inter-caste alliances. For instance, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-III), only 11% of the inter-caste marriages happen in the country. Similarly, the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER)’s India Human Development Survey has found that only 5.4% marriages conducted in India were intercaste in 2014.

Reasons for failure

• First, as a manifestation of continuing social orthodoxy, still a majority of people in India prefer to marry someone belonging to their own caste. The institution of marriage is considered important for the perpetuation of caste.
• Second, the schemes of this nature are rarely publicised. Many people are not aware of the existence of these schemes.
• Third, it is often difficult for the couples to get recommendations from the state MLAs and MPs. Moreover, in some cases, the political leaders themselves are not ready to support these couples as they do not want to harm the sentiments of the local people.

What is the way forward?

The founding fathers of our nation were clear that the caste system must be abolished. According to Babasaheb Ambedkar, the real solution for social integration and abolition of caste is inter-marriage. Mahatma Gandhi, too, in the later years of his life conducted only inter-caste marriages at his ashram. Many anti-caste preachers like Sree Narayana Guru, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy and Rammanohar Lohia also felt the same. They advocated that political empowerment of people belonging to the oppressed classes is crucial for abolition of caste. But somehow down the line, the assertion and empowerment of oppressed castes lost their significance. Further, with the deteriorating state of electoral politics in the country, promotion of inter-caste marriages has assumed backseat in the political agenda of political parties. Often, the politicians support conservative view point to garner votes.

In India, the inter-caste marriages even results in honour killings. Even though our legislations permit inter-caste marriages, it does not do much in protecting the same. Hence, these laws need to be strengthened. Stringent punishments have to be awarded to those who involve in honour killings. In addition, the government should create more awareness about this scheme. It should also try to simplify the procedures by shunning the requirement like the need to get attestation from MLAs and MPs.