Hyderabad: As many as 767 couples availed an incentive under the component of ‘Incentive for Inter-Caste Marriages’ under Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Protection of Civil Rights Act in Telangana in the last three years, according to Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale.
While 119 couples availed the scheme in 2022-23, 243 couples utilized it in 2023-24 and 404 couples in 2024-25. The Union Minister said this in Rajya Sabha two days ago, while responding to a question raised by BJP MP K Laxman.
According to the Minister, the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) implements the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Caste (PMS-SC) students’ through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
Under the PMS-SC, the DBT mode was introduced from the year 2021-22 and Telangana adopted this mode from the year 2024-25. However, the State has not shared its paid data on the National Scholarship Portal during the Financial Year (FY) 2024-25.
The release of Central share of PMS-SC scholarship is contingent upon the State government or Administration of Union Territory (UT) to share paid data to the National Scholarship Portal.
Dr. Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration through inter-caste marriages and Dr. Ambedkar National Relief to SC/ST Victims of Atrocities Schemes of Dr. Ambedkar Foundation has been merged with the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act, 1955 and Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 from April 1, 2023.