YSR Kalyanamastu, Shadi Tohfa launched

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday launched YSR Kalyanamastu and YSR Shadi Tohfa schemes and they would come into effect from Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that these schemes would help in preventing child marriages and school dropouts as the eligible age for marriage is 18 years for brides and 21 for grooms. They can apply for availing the scheme within 60 days of the marriage at the village or ward secretariats. The amount would be credited quarterly once. Jagan stressed that the schemes are connected with education and to check drop-outs. He said the government has been taking revolutionary steps to promote education, like Amma Vodi, Sampoorna Poshana, Gorumudda, Vidya Kanuka, English Medium, CBSE syllabus, Byju's pact, Nadu Nedu Schools, TMF, SMF, Vidya Deevena, Vasathi Deevena and job oriented curriculum.

The Kalyanamastu and Shadi Tohfa are part of the educational reforms and one condition is that the children must pass at least Class X to avail the scheme. The scheme would help SCs, STs, BCs, minorities and construction workers. The previous government had stopped such scheme in 2018 and left arrears of Rs 68.68 crore to 17,709 beneficiaries, he said.

"The previous government had announced giving Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000 to SCs and STs. But we are giving Rs 1 lakh now. For inter-caste marriages, it is Rs 75,000 earlier which is now increased to Rs 1.2 lakh. The previous government announce to pay Rs 30,000 for BCs, but we are now paying Rs 50,000 and for inter-caste marriages it was hiked to Rs 75,000 from Rs 50,000. For minorities, the amount is doubled to Rs 1 lakh. For differently-abled persons, it is increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh. For construction workers, the amount is increased to Rs 40,000 from Rs 20,000," the CM added.