Mukhya Mantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana

What is the Mukhya Mantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana?

Mukhya Mantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana is a cash incentive scheme run by the Directorate of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes under Haryana's SEWA Department. The scheme, whose name translates roughly as the Chief Minister's Social Harmony Inter-Caste Marriage Gift Scheme, was introduced in 2016 and is funded on a 50:50 sharing basis between the Government of India and the Government of Haryana.

The purpose is stated plainly by the department: to promote social harmony by encouraging inter-caste marriages, specifically marriages in which one partner belongs to a Scheduled Caste and the other does not. Readers searching for it in transliterated Hindi will find it as Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana.

According to the SEWA Department's scheme page, a total of Rs 2,50,000 is provided to an eligible couple, paid in two parts:

• Rs 1,25,000 transferred by Direct Benefit Transfer to the joint account of the couple immediately after the marriage, and
• Rs 1,25,000 deposited into the same joint account with a lock-in period of 3 years.

The lock-in is deliberate. The state's intent is that the money supports a household that has stayed together, so the second half becomes freely withdrawable only after the couple has completed three years. Older departmental notifications for this scheme listed an incentive of Rs 1,01,000, a figure that was itself raised from Rs 51,000 in 2018. Because the applicable amount depends on the notification in force in the year of your marriage, confirm the exact figure with your District Welfare Office before you plan around it.

Haryana separately maintains a legacy page called "Scheme for the Encouragement of Inter-Caste Marriage", which is the earlier version of the same idea. Treat the 50:50 Samajik Samrasta scheme as the current route.

Who is eligible for the inter-caste marriage shagun in Haryana?

You can claim the shagun if:

• Both spouses are citizens of India.
• One spouse belongs to a Scheduled Caste, and that spouse is a permanent resident of Haryana with a domicile or residence certificate to prove it.
• The other spouse does not belong to a Scheduled Caste. This is what makes the marriage inter-caste for the purpose of the scheme.
• The marriage is legally valid and registered. The bride was at least 18 and the groom at least 21 on the wedding date.
• It is the first marriage for both spouses.
• You apply within 3 years of the date of marriage.

You are not eligible, or your claim will be rejected, if:

• Both spouses belong to Scheduled Castes, or both belong to non-Scheduled Caste communities. The scheme rewards the crossing of that specific line, not inter-community marriage in general.
• Neither spouse is a permanent resident of Haryana. The SC spouse's Haryana domicile is the anchor of the claim.
• Either spouse has been married before. Second marriages and remarriages after divorce or widowhood are outside the scheme.
• You have already received this incentive, or a comparable inter-caste marriage incentive from another government source, for the same marriage.
• More than 3 years have passed since the date of marriage.
• The marriage is not registered. An unregistered ceremony, however well attested by witnesses, will not clear verification.

The scheme has no income ceiling and no education requirement. A couple's earnings, occupation or landholding do not affect entitlement, which is unusual for a Haryana welfare payment and worth knowing, because applicants often assume a BPL condition that does not exist here.

What documents are required?

Get the joint bank account opened before you start the application. Applicants routinely reach the payment stage with only individual accounts and lose weeks reopening the file.

How to apply for the Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun Yojana

1. Register the marriage with the Registrar of Marriages in the district or municipality where the marriage took place, and collect the marriage certificate. Nothing in this scheme moves without it.
2. Collect the caste certificates for both spouses from the Tehsildar, plus the Haryana residence certificate for the Scheduled Caste spouse.
3. Open a joint bank account in the names of both spouses and seed it with Aadhaar so that DBT works and the 3-year lock-in can be applied.
4. File the application online. Go to saralharyana.gov.in, create an account with your mobile number and email, sign in, search the service directory for the Mukhya Mantri Samajik Samrasta Antarjatiya Vivah Shagun service under the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Department, and open the form.
5. Fill the form and upload the marriage certificate, both caste certificates, residence certificate, Aadhaar cards, age proofs and the joint account passbook, then submit and save the Saral reference ID.
6. Or apply offline. Visit the District Welfare Office (DWO) of your district with the inter-caste marriage certificate and the full document set and hand it to the officer concerned for verification. Any Antyodaya Saral Kendra will also file the online application on your behalf free of charge.
7. Verification is done by the District Welfare Officer, who checks the caste certificates and the marriage record, and forwards the case for sanction.
8. Receive the payment. Rs 1,25,000 is credited to the joint account after sanction; the balance Rs 1,25,000 is placed in the same account under the 3-year lock-in.

How do I check my application status?

• Sign in to saralharyana.gov.in and open Track Application Status using the reference ID printed on your acknowledgement.
• Use the SMS tracking option advertised on the Saral portal if you do not have internet access.
• Call or visit the District Welfare Office, which holds the physical file during verification and can tell you which document is holding it up.
• Check the joint bank account passbook. Because the first half is paid by DBT, the credit appears without a separate letter.

Why applications get rejected, and how to fix it

• Caste certificate of the non-SC spouse missing. Officers need proof of both sides to establish the marriage is inter-caste. Get the certificate from the Tehsildar of that spouse's home district.
• Marriage not registered, or the registration is in a different name spelling from Aadhaar. Correct the record before applying.
• Individual bank account submitted instead of a joint account. Reopen a joint account and update the application.
• Application filed after 3 years from the marriage date. This is a hard deadline and cannot normally be condoned.
• Residence certificate from another state, where the SC spouse's Haryana domicile could not be established.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, caste certificate and marriage certificate, which stalls DBT seeding. Fix the Aadhaar record first, since the other documents are usually checked against it.

If the district rejects the case, ask in writing for the ground of rejection. Most rejections in this scheme are documentary rather than substantive and can be cured and re-filed inside the 3-year window.

Key dates and things to plan for

• Apply within 3 years of the date of marriage — the only hard deadline in the scheme.
• The 3-year lock-in on the second half runs from the deposit date, not from the marriage date, so the final tranche typically becomes available a little over three years after sanction.
• No annual renewal is needed. This is a one-time incentive per couple.
• Applications are accepted all year round; there is no announced window.

Where do I complain or get help?

• Directorate of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Bays No. 53-54, Kalyan Bhawan, Sector 2, Panchkula-134109 to telephone 0172-2564006 and 0172-2567009, email dbcharyana[at]gmail[dot]com.
• District Welfare Officer of your district, for anything to do with verification or a stalled file.
• Antyodaya Saral Kendra, for help filling the form and for status checks.
• CM Window, Haryana's state grievance platform, when the district level does not respond within a reasonable time.

Applying is free. No Saral Kendra operator, welfare official or middleman may charge a fee to file this application or to "get the shagun sanctioned", and no government officer will ask for your OTP or bank password.