Linking a marginal dip in caste atrocity cases in Odisha to the rise in inter-caste marriages in the same period, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale on Monday said, "Inter-caste marriages need to be promoted on a higher scale to bring equality in the society."
Addressing a press conference in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, he said that though the Centre and the Odisha Government had schemes to promote inter-caste marriage, more needed to be done to "promote it on a higher scale".
The Dr. Ambedkar Foundation of the Ministry already provides ₹2.5 lakh to inter-caste couples getting married and the Odisha Government also runs a similar scheme for support.
A Ministry statement quoted Mr. Athawale as saying, "In 2020-21, 1,847 inter-caste marriages were registered in Odisha which rose to 2,428 in 2021-22… Odisha has registered 2,828 cases of atrocities in 2020-21 and 2,768 cases during 2021-22.
“The Centre and the State need to work in coordination to stop the cases of atrocities,” Mr. Athawale stressed.
Central schemes
The Union Minister also presented data on the implementation of Central schemes in Odisha. He said 1.8 lakh of the 62.2 lakh homes built under the PM Awas Yojana (Urban) were in Odisha, and the same for rural areas was 18 lakh.
He said that similarly out of the 36.3 crore people benefited by the PM Mudra Yojana, 2.4 crore were in Odisha and of the 46.2 crore beneficiaries of the PM Jan Dhan Yojana, 1.9 crore were in Odisha.
Earlier in the day, the Minister reviewed the implementation of various Central schemes of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the State with senior officials, the Ministry statement added.
