November 29, 2022 08:07 pm | Updated 08:07 pm IST - Hyderabad The Telangana government’s celebrated scheme — Shaadi Mubarak — thus far has seen financial assistance being provided at the time of their marriage to as many as 2,11,285 women. Launched on October 2, 2014, the Shaadi Mubarak scheme was a result of the government’s intention to reduce the financial distress usually witnessed by the would-be bride and her family at the time of her marriage. While in the beginning, in FY 2014-15, a one-time grant of ₹51,000 was given to the woman’s family subject to certain conditions. On May 15, 2017, the grant was increased from ₹51,000 to ₹75,116. And in 2018 it was further enhanced to ₹1,00,116. According to data obtained under the Right to Information Act by activist Kareem Ansari from NGO Yugantar, as much as ₹1,688.54 crore was disbursed from FY 2014-15 to FY 2021-22. In its first year, the scheme saw financial assistance of ₹27.75 crore being given to a total of 5,443 beneficiaries, with the number of beneficiaries increasing each year, save in FY 2016-17, and more significantly in FY 2019-20, when a lockdown was imposed on account of the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the State. Data shows that till April this year, 2,21,396 potential beneficiaries had registered, out of which funds were disbursed to 2,11,285 beneficiaries. In FY 2021-22, a sum of ₹298.20 crore was disbursed to a total of 29,887 beneficiaries. “As everybody knows, marriages are not easy for a large number of people, especially those who are from poorer backgrounds. The scheme is helping families who find themselves in financial trouble. While the scheme is working well, there are only a couple of issues which need resolution. The first is that sanctioning the amount is time a little consuming. And the other is the speedy cheque distribution, preferably not in the presence of the media,” Mr. Ansari said.