Rehabilitation of Cured Leprosy Persons — Marriage Incentives and Support (Odisha)

What is Marriage Incentives and Support for cured leprosy persons in Odisha?

Marriage Incentives and Support is component 10 of the umbrella scheme for Rehabilitation of Cured Leprosy Persons, notified by the Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Department, Government of Odisha, by resolution dated 23 February 2021 and published in the Odisha Gazette Extraordinary No. 348 of 2 March 2021.

The SSEPD resolution explains the problem it addresses in unusually direct language. Cured leprosy persons, it says, are often forced to stay out of the social circle along with their children, living in "a vicious cycle of poverty, powerlessness, stigmatization, discrimination, exclusion and material deprivation, all of which mutually reinforce each other." Getting a daughter married into mainstream social life is difficult for such a family: not only because of the social taboo attached to leprosy, but because of poverty. This component supports such parents financially.

The support amount is limited to Rs 50,000.

The umbrella scheme itself was framed after the Supreme Court's directions in the Pankaj Sinha case (2014), which required the Union and state governments to act on the welfare of cured leprosy persons.

Who is eligible for Marriage Incentives and Support?

You can claim this support if:

• You are a cured leprosy person living in Odisha, or the legal guardian of the daughter where a parent has died.
• You are getting a daughter married and can state the groom's name and address and the scheduled date of marriage.
• You have not claimed this benefit earlier. The undertaking on the Annexure C form makes this a signed declaration.
• Where you apply as a guardian, you hold a certificate of guardianship from the competent authority.

You are not eligible if:

• You have already drawn assistance under this component for the same or an earlier marriage.
• You cannot establish that you are a cured leprosy person on the district administration's records. Identification is done through the survey the SSEPD Department conducts from time to time, and through district-level verification.
• You are not a resident of Odisha. Every component of the umbrella scheme is built around permanent domicile in the state and sanction by the local Collector.

Note what the guidelines do not impose here. The Rs 2,40,000 annual family income ceiling written into the scholarship and skill development components of the same resolution is not stated for the marriage component, and the resolution does not fix an age or caste condition beyond the requirements of the general marriage law of India. Do not assume an income bar that the resolution does not carry; district offices will apply what the resolution says.

How to apply for Marriage Incentives and Support in Odisha

1. Get the Annexure C form. The prescribed form, titled "Application for assistance to Cured Leprosy Persons / Guardian for marriage of daughters", is annexed to the SSEPD resolution and is available from the Block Development Officer, the Executive Officer of your NAC or Municipality, or the District Social Security Officer.
2. Fill Part A: details of parents. Enter the parent's name, address and Aadhaar number, enclosing copies. If you are a guardian rather than a parent, enclose the certificate of guardianship obtained from the competent authority.
3. Fill Part B: details of the daughter. Enter her name, date of birth with the birth certificate enclosed, Aadhaar number with a copy, educational status and employment status.
4. Fill Part C — other information. Give the name and address of the groom with whom the marriage is fixed and the scheduled date of marriage. Apply before the marriage date so that sanction and disbursal can be completed in time.
5. Sign the undertaking, which declares that the information is true, that you have not claimed the benefit earlier, and that you understand that wrong information makes you liable to legal action and to recovery of the support money.
6. Submit the form through the Block or ULB Administration. The Block Development Officer or the Executive Officer of the NAC or Municipality verifies your information against available records and recommends the case to the District Social Security Officer.
7. DSSO scrutiny and Collector sanction. The District Social Security Officer scrutinises the recommended applications and gets them sanctioned by the Collector as per rules. Funds are placed by the DSSO with the SSEPD Department and remitted to the beneficiary's bank account.

There is no online application route for this component. Unlike the SSEPD disability marriage incentive, which is submitted at ssepd.gov.in, Marriage Incentives and Support runs on the Annexure C paper form through the district machinery.

How to check the status of your application

1. Ask the Block Development Officer or the Executive Officer of your NAC or Municipality whether the recommendation has been forwarded to the DSSO, and note the date.
2. Follow up with the District Social Security Officer, whose contact details are published on ssepd.odisha.gov.in. The DSSO holds the scrutiny and sanction file.
3. Call the SSEPD helpline 18003457150 or write to ssepdsec.od@nic.in if the file has not moved for several weeks.
4. Check your bank passbook or SMS alerts once sanction is confirmed. The DSSO remits the money directly.

DSSOs are required to make online entry of beneficiary data, and to submit consolidated utilisation certificates to the department by 31 March each year with the Collector's countersignature, so a sanctioned case that is not paid by the end of the financial year is worth chasing before that date.

What are the other components of the cured leprosy umbrella scheme?

Marriage Incentives and Support is one of 13 components. The rest are worth knowing because most families qualify for more than one:

The scholarship and skill development components both carry an annual family income ceiling of Rs 2,40,000, and the scholarship additionally requires that the student is not drawing assistance under any other central or state scheme.

Common reasons applications get rejected, and how to fix them

• Guardianship certificate missing. If the applicant is not the parent, the form is incomplete without a guardianship certificate from the competent authority. Get it from the district court or the authority notified for guardianship in your district before applying.
• Birth certificate not enclosed. Part B of Annexure C requires the daughter's date of birth with the certificate attached. A school certificate is usually accepted where a municipal birth certificate does not exist, but confirm with the DSSO first.
• Applied after the wedding. The form asks for the scheduled date of marriage, which means the scheme is designed for applications made before the event. Apply as soon as the date is fixed.
• Leprosy status not on record. Cured leprosy persons who were never covered by the district survey should first approach the DSSO to be recorded and certified. The umbrella scheme's own first component exists for exactly this.
• Duplicate claim. A second claim under the same component will be rejected and can trigger recovery. Where a second daughter is being married, discuss the case with the DSSO rather than filing a fresh form silently.
• Bank account not in the applicant's name or inactive. Disbursal is direct to the account; a dormant account will bounce the payment.

Help and grievance redressal

• Odisha SSEPD helpline: 18003457150
• SSEPD email: ssepdsec.od@nic.in
• District Social Security Officer (DSSO) of your district, contact details are published on ssepd.odisha.gov.in
• District Collector, who is the sanctioning authority and to whom appeals against a district-level rejection should go

The SSEPD resolution places a specific duty on district administration to "provide opportunities to all Cured Leprosy Persons for redressal of grievances, settlement of issues concerning guardianship and justice", so a grievance about a stalled marriage assistance file is properly addressed to the Collector.

No fee is payable to apply. Any person or middleman demanding money to process an Annexure C application should be reported to the DSSO and the SSEPD helpline.