Intercaste Marriage Support Scheme, Key To Social Change, Is Floundering
It was an incentive to promote social integration and support intercaste couples who often deal with familial and social opposition. Now the Centre has put a stop to the the scheme
Inspired by historic icons such as Babasaheb Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule, Megha Kshrisagar and her partner Divyang Potdar entered an inter-caste marriage on April 11 this year. They chose this date because it marks Phule’s birth anniversary.
Soon after the wedding, they decided to apply for the Dr Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration Through Intercaste Marriage, a centrally supported scheme that provides Rs. 2.5 lakh to inter-caste couples. Its aim was to reach 500 such couples every year.
The central scheme was introduced in 2013 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in collaboration with the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation (DAF), an autonomous body under it that seeks to promote Ambedkar’s ideology. The scheme’s aim was to support 500 intercaste couples every year and in the process, encourage social integration.
It is a known fact that intercaste couples often deal with familial and social hostility and violence and struggle to start their married lives without any support. “Honour” killings in such cases are a widely reported crime in India. In view of these challenges, couples like Megha and Divyank find the scheme a huge support.
However, the couple was shocked to learn from a news report in the Marathi daily Loksatta that the scheme had been discontinued though this had not been declared officially. The news report was based on the letters received by other applicants from the state justice department stating that the central scheme had been discontinued but that intercaste couples would be eligible for the benefits of a similar state scheme.
Maharashtra, like most other Indian states, has an anti-caste initiative, where it provides a financial assistance of Rs 50,000 as ‘incentive grant to inter caste married couples’. Beneficiaries include those from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribe, Vimukta Jati, Nomadic Tribes, Special Backward Castes who marry from Savarna, Hindu Lingayat, Jain, Sikh communities. But the couples we interviewed say they prefer the central scheme because it is more than twice as generous as the state one.
Megha and Divyang filed an RTI seeking answers about its discontinuation from the Dr Ambedkar Foundation. A reply to the RTI, filed on May 19, said the following: “Information sought is already available in public domain in Dr. Ambedkar foundation website. Visit our website, kindly visit our website for required information.” However, BehanBox did not find any information on the status of the scheme on the DAF website.
Megha also went to meet the state social justice minister Sanjay Shirsat in May 2025 at the Mantralaya to press for the revival of the scheme. “The minister seemed clueless about the status of the scheme,” she recalled.
A BehanBox investigation shows that the central scheme was merged with other schemes related to the implementation of the protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (prevention of atrocities) Act. But the opacity around this merger had led to confusion.
Anti-caste activists say the central scheme’s merger with others aimed at dealing with caste discrimination is unreasonable.
“Schemes under the atrocity act are meant for supporting and rehabilitating victims of caste-based violence. Why is the government clubbing a scheme to create a more liberal society with an act that is preventive in nature?” says Dhammasangini Ramagorakh, an anti caste activist and scholar. “This shows the BJP government’s attitude towards anti caste movements and society.”
The ideal option would have been to work at improving the implementation of the scheme, say social activists. As a study that we detail later concluded, the scheme reportedly had many flaws – complicated paperwork, and the unhelpful attitude of apathetic, prejudiced and corrupt officials. Lack of awareness and poor communication were other issues.
The number of beneficiaries of the scheme grew every year while it lasted but the target of 500 was never reached. And funding fell over the years.
Why Support Inter Caste Marriage
As we said earlier, this scheme provides financial assistance to intercaste couples who marry under the Hindu Marriage Act or the Special Marriage Act (SMA). One of the partners has to be from a Scheduled Caste, leaving out other marginalised groups.
“Dr. Ambedkar argued intercaste marriage is an important tool to annihilate caste. So people from other marginalised caste groups such as NT, DNT, ST should be included in such schemes,” said Milind Awad, modern India caste scholar and associate professor at JNU.
Within a year of the marriage, couples had to submit their Aadhaar cards, marriage certificate, joint bank account details, and a letter from the district collector/ social justice department certifying that the couple is not already availing the scheme’s benefits, central or state.
Beneficiaries receive this grant in three chunks – an initial Rs 50,000 within a few months of the wedding, followed by Rs 1 lakh a year later and then the remaining Rs 1,00,000 after five years.
As we said, the grant is critical in helping many couples start their married lives because of the social and familial complications of an inter-caste marriage in India. In his experience of facilitating intercaste and inter faith marriages for over a decade now, Pune activist Abhijit Alka has seen couples being thrown out by their families, not supported or protected by the police and in financial distress.
“Those who marry [outside their caste] face strong opposition from families, and have to leave their homes. They need it [the support] most,” said Abhijit Alka, who runs the ‘Right to love campaign’ started by the Anhad social foundation, a non profit that works to facilitate intercaste and interfaith marriages.
In a country like India, where caste discrimination and caste atrocities are a part of everyday life, intercaste marriage, as Ambedkar said, can be a radical anti-caste tool. Jyotiba and Savtribai Phule, and Sahu Maharaj encouraged and supported the intercaste marriages within their families.
Despite a long history of anti-caste movements, Maharashtra continues to report ‘honour’ killings of men and women who enter intercaste marriages. As many as 19 murder cases have been reported in just two years in the state (16 in 2017 and 3 in 2018). Acknowledging the need for safe spaces for intercaste couples, the Sneh Aadhar Foundation and the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) started a safe house in Satara five years ago. Shankar Kanase has been managing this space which provides free stay with protection, food and other basic necessities to the intercaste couples for up to one year.
“Patriarchal families, blinded by false ideas of caste pride, can torture and kill couples. So schemes that support and encourage inter-caste marriages should be implemented and made accessible,” said Kanase, joint secretary of the anti-caste division of MANS.
So far, 17 couples have sought shelter in the Satara safe house. Recently, the Bombay High Court, in reference with a Shaktivahini’s (a non profit) petition in the supreme court, directed the Maharashtra government to establish such safe houses for the protection of inter-caste couples and interfaith couples.
Until these homes are built, the court has ordered that such couples be accommodated either in government guest houses or rented premises with adequate police protection. Following this, the home department of Maharashtra issued a notification on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on May 13, 2025.
This SOP says a special cell should be formed at the district level, involving the superintendent of police, a social welfare official and the district women and child development officer to ensure the safety of these intercouples. If couples – both intercaste or interfaith and married as well as unmarried – approach the police with safety concerns, they should be immediately provided police protection and safe house for up to six months. For this, couples will be charged a minimal sum. They will also be provided support for marriage registration and offered free legal aid from the district or state legal services.
According to the National Crime Record Bureau’s 2022 report, 18 cases of honour killings and 27 of murders traceable to caste issues were reported in India.
‘No Applications Hereafter’
As we said, there has been no official declaration of the scheme’s closure and reports in Loksatta and the news portal Baimanus were based on the official letters received by applicants. Pramod Kharat and Priyanka Mahalle received a copy of a letter which was sent by Rajesh Manjarekar, a section officer in the social justice department and marked to all district commissionerates responsible for implementing the state scheme.
We found in our investigation that the central ministry of social justice issued a public notification of the merger of the Ambedkar scheme with the other schemes in 2023. The notification dated January 13, 2023 says:
“Dr. Ambedkar scheme for social integration through intercaste marriages and Atrocity schemes of DAF will merge with centrally sponsored scheme for implementation of the protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 and the schedule castes and schedule tribes (prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989 respectively run by Social Justice Empowerment with effect from 1st April, 2023.’
The notification goes on to say:
“All backlog/pending cases of Dr. Ambedkar scheme for social integration through intercaste marriages if any shall be resolved upto 31st March 2023. All cases are requested to apply through the social welfare department of respective governments/union territories. No applications will be entertained for Dr. Ambedkar scheme for social integration through intercaste marriages by the Dr. Ambedkar foundation with effect from 1st April 2023.”
This was the last notification on the subject.
Patchy Implementation
In the five years (2015 to 2019) a total of 377 couples received financial assistance under this scheme, according to the question-answers on this issue in the Lok Sabha. The most recent data shows that only 120 couples benefitted from the scheme in 2018-19, this went up to 248 in the financial year 2019-20 and further increased to 353 in the financial year 2020-21.
In the 2025-26 Budget, there was no mention of the allocations for this scheme under the ministry of social justice and empowerment. The only available figures pertain to the overall funds allocated to the Dr Ambedkar Foundation, the implementing agency for the scheme which has other activities and expenses.
A study done by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) between 2017 to 2019 about the scheme’s impact on the lives of beneficiaries also sheds light on the gaps in implementation.
As many as 83.08% of beneficiaries reported facing multiple difficulties in availing the scheme, per the IIPA study. The challenges included tiresome paperwork, delays in document verification, casteist attitudes among officials, demands for bribes, lax attitudes of officials at the Ambedkar foundation including the misplacement of documents, demands for recommendation letters from MPs/MLAs, and long delays in fund disbursement.
Nilesh Nanware an anti-caste activist from Chandrapur in Maharashtra told us he was demotivated by the corrupt and long bureaucratic processes. “I heard from people who work in the ministry of social justice and empowerment that couples need to pay bribes to expedite the process. So I did not apply for it.”
IIPA’s report also recommended mass awareness campaigns to inform more people about the scheme.
Key findings of IIPA Study
97% of respondents felt that inter-caste marriages promote social unity
67% believed that such marriages support freedom, equality, and fraternity
68% thought that inter-caste marriages would help reduce caste prejudice and untouchability
45% of these beneficiaries were from economically weaker sections and found it very difficult to live independently after marrying without family support
Similarly, 52% of beneficiaries from the middle class also said they needed the financial support offered by the scheme in the face of familial hostility
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