Assistance for Marriage — Welfare of Differently Abled Persons (Tamil Nadu)

What is the Assistance for Marriage scheme?

Assistance for Marriage is a small one-time benefit of the Department for the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons, Government of Tamil Nadu. The scheme pays Rs 2,000 towards the expenses of a marriage, either the marriage of a differently abled person, or the marriage of that person's son or daughter.

The department that runs it is Tamil Nadu's dedicated administrative machinery for disability welfare, with a District Differently Abled Welfare Office (DDAWO) in each district. That office is the single point through which almost everything the department does reaches a citizen: disability certification through the medical board, the National Identity Card for Persons with Disabilities, aids and appliances such as motorised tricycles, hearing aids and wheelchairs, maintenance allowances, scholarships, self-employment support and the marriage assistance schemes.

The most important thing to get right about this particular scheme is that it is not the only marriage assistance the department offers, and it is by some distance the smallest. Tamil Nadu operates a larger and better known set of marriage assistance schemes aimed at encouraging marriages involving differently abled persons, under which the assistance is Rs 25,000 together with an 8 gram gold coin for making the thirumangalyam for the bride, rising to Rs 50,000 with the gold coin where the differently abled person has completed a degree or a diploma. Separate variants exist where a person without disability marries an orthopaedically disabled, visually impaired, or speech and hearing impaired person.

An applicant should therefore treat the Rs 2,000 Assistance for Marriage as a distinct, narrow benefit and should ask the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer explicitly which of the department's marriage schemes their case falls under before filing. Many families qualify for a much larger benefit than the one they came in to ask about, and the district office is where that gets sorted out.

Who is eligible for Assistance for Marriage?

You can apply if:

• You are a differently abled person holding a disability certificate or the National Identity Card for Persons with Disabilities, and you are getting married; or
• You are a differently abled person whose son or daughter is getting married, in which case you are the applicant for your child's marriage.
• The marriage is registered and a marriage certificate is available.
• Both bride and groom had attained the legal age of marriage at the time of the marriage.
• You are a resident of Tamil Nadu and apply in the district where you live.
• You have not already drawn the same assistance for the same marriage under another scheme.

You cannot apply, or the claim will be rejected, if:

• You do not hold a disability certificate or a National Identity Card for Persons with Disabilities. The certificate is the foundation of every benefit from this department, and the claim cannot be assessed without it. If you do not have one, the same district office arranges the medical board assessment.
• The marriage is not registered. A ceremony alone, however well documented by photographs, leaves the claim without its central proof.
• Either party was below the legal age of marriage. No welfare department in Tamil Nadu will sanction assistance for an underage marriage, and doing so would be assisting an offence.
• The same benefit has already been drawn for the same marriage from another department or board.
• The applicant is not the differently abled person or that person's parent, a sibling or other relative cannot claim on their behalf.
• The applicant is resident outside Tamil Nadu.

How much is paid, and how does it compare?

The table is the most useful thing on this page. A Rs 2,000 payment is a token contribution to marriage expenses; the Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 schemes are substantial. The difference between them is not the applicant's persistence but the category the marriage falls into, and that is determined by who is marrying whom and by the differently abled person's educational qualification.

Payment under this scheme is made by credit to the applicant's bank account after sanction by the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer.

What documents are required?

How to apply for Assistance for Marriage

1. Obtain the disability certificate or the National Identity Card for Persons with Disabilities, if you do not already hold one, by applying at the District Differently Abled Welfare Office for assessment by the medical board. Do this before the marriage rather than after, since the assessment takes time.
2. Register the marriage with the registrar of marriages and obtain the marriage certificate. Every marriage-linked benefit in Tamil Nadu depends on this.
3. Visit the District Differently Abled Welfare Office and ask the officer which of the department's marriage assistance schemes applies to your case, the Rs 2,000 Assistance for Marriage, or one of the larger schemes for marriages involving a differently abled person.
4. Collect and complete the application form for the scheme identified, affixing photographs.
5. Attach the documents: disability certificate or identity card, marriage certificate, invitation and marriage photographs, Aadhaar, bank passbook, residence proof, age proof of both parties, and the Village Administrative Officer's declaration that the benefit has not been drawn under another scheme.
6. Submit at the District Differently Abled Welfare Office and collect a dated acknowledgement with the application number.
7. Follow up on the sanction and check your bank account for the credit once the office confirms sanction.

How to check the status of your application

1. Quote the acknowledgement number at the District Differently Abled Welfare Office.
2. Ask whether the file is pending on document verification, on the VAO report, or on sanction, since these are different stages with different fixes.
3. Check the bank account after sanction is communicated, as the credit often arrives without separate intimation.
4. Escalate to the Commissionerate for the Welfare of the Differently Abled through scd.tn.gov.in, or through the Chief Minister's Special Cell at cmhelpline.tn.gov.in.

Why marriage assistance claims get rejected

• No disability certificate. The commonest bar. Apply for the medical board assessment first; nothing from this department moves without the certificate or the National Identity Card.
• Marriage not registered. Register it, then apply. This cannot be worked around with photographs and an invitation alone.
• Applying long after the marriage. File promptly. A claim brought years later is difficult to verify and is routinely refused.
• Benefit already drawn for the same marriage under another department's scheme, which the Village Administrative Officer's declaration is designed to catch.
• Name and spelling mismatches between the disability certificate, Aadhaar, the marriage certificate and the bank passbook. Align them at source before filing.
• Bank account not in the applicant's name or not seeded to Aadhaar.
• Applying under the wrong scheme, which delays rather than defeats the claim. Ask the district officer to identify the correct scheme at the outset.

Help and grievance redressal

• District Differently Abled Welfare Officer (DDAWO) — the office that certifies, receives, sanctions and pays.
• Commissionerate for the Welfare of the Differently Abled, Tamil Nadu: scd.tn.gov.in
• Village Administrative Officer, for the non-duplication declaration.
• Registrar of marriages or an e-Sevai centre, for the marriage certificate; e-Sevai helpline 1800 425 6000.
• Chief Minister's Special Cell: cmhelpline.tn.gov.in

The assistance is free of any charge. No agent or intermediary is needed and none can obtain a sanction; report any demand for money to the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer.