Marriage Assistance to Normal Persons Marrying Visually Impaired Persons

What is the marriage assistance scheme for differently abled persons?

Marriage Assistance to Normal Persons Marrying Visually Impaired Persons is the original name of a scheme run by the Department for the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons, Government of Tamil Nadu, and administered through the Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled and the District Differently Abled Welfare Offices.

The scheme began as a narrow incentive: encourage a person without disability to marry a visually impaired person, by meeting part of the cost of the wedding. The Department's Policy Note for 2025-26 traces what happened next. The scheme was subsequently extended to non-disabled persons marrying other categories of disability such as hearing impaired and locomotor affected persons, and it now covers all differently abled persons marrying all categories of differently abled persons.

In its present form the scheme is simply Tamil Nadu's marriage assistance for the differently abled, and it works like this:

• Rs 25,000 cash assistance to the couple, plus
• an 8-gram gold coin to make the Thirumangalyam, and
• Rs 50,000 cash assistance instead of Rs 25,000 if either the bride or the groom is a graduate or a diploma holder, with the same 8-gram gold coin.

Scale. During 2024-25 a sum of Rs 683.17 lakh was utilised and 588 beneficiaries were given assistance. Rs 717.73 lakh is provided in the Budget Estimate for 2025-26.

Who is eligible for marriage assistance, and who is excluded?

You can apply if:

• One spouse is a differently abled person, the scheme covers a non-disabled person marrying a differently abled person, and equally a differently abled person marrying another differently abled person, across all categories of disability.
• The differently abled spouse holds a disability certificate issued by the appropriate certifying authority. Tamil Nadu issues the National Identity Disability Card to persons with 40 per cent and above disability on that basis.
• Both spouses are of legal marriageable age and the marriage is a valid one.
• You are a resident of Tamil Nadu and apply to your district office.

The department's Policy Note does not state an income ceiling for this scheme, and the department's practice on its allied maintenance allowance is expressly to give the benefit without considering the income level.

You cannot apply if:

• Neither spouse is a differently abled person. A couple with no disability is not eligible under this scheme and should look at the Social Welfare Department's four marriage assistance schemes instead.
• The differently abled spouse has no disability certificate. Getting the certificate is the first step, not an afterthought.
• You are claiming the Rs 50,000 amount without a degree or diploma certificate for either spouse. In that case the claim is settled at Rs 25,000.
• You have already received marriage assistance from the department for the same marriage, or the same benefit from another department for the same marriage.

How to apply for marriage assistance for a differently abled person

1. Obtain the disability certificate. Certificates are issued by the appropriate certifying authority for the particular disability, the medical board at Government Medical College Hospitals, District Headquarters Hospitals, Taluk and non-Taluk hospitals, and at special camps, depending on the severity. The State Resource cum Training Centres at Chennai and Tiruchirappalli also issue disability certificates and the National Identity Disability Card.
2. Get the NIDC or UDID card. The District Differently Abled Welfare Office issues the National Identity Disability Card to persons with 40 per cent and above disability, and the Unique Disability Identification card is issued through the Government of India system at swavlambancard.gov.in. 8,94,220 UDID cards had been generated and delivered to residences as on 31 March 2025.
3. Collect the marriage assistance application form from the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer. Offices function in all 39 districts.
4. Attach the documents: disability certificate, NIDC or UDID card, marriage invitation or marriage certificate, age proof of both spouses, Aadhaar of both, bank passbook, and the degree or diploma certificate if the Rs 50,000 amount is being claimed.
5. Submit the application to the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer and keep the dated acknowledgement. Departmental applications in Tamil Nadu are also received through e-Sevai centres, which is the route the department uses for its maintenance allowance.
6. Follow up on scrutiny. Applications are scrutinised by the District Differently Abled Welfare Officers, and the cash component is credited to the beneficiary's bank account through Direct Benefit Transfer.
7. Collect the gold coin as arranged by the district office.

What documents are required?

Why claims get delayed or rejected

• Disability certificate missing or expired. A temporary certificate that has lapsed is the most common cause of delay; get it renewed at a medical board or a camp before applying.
• Disability below 40 per cent, which keeps the applicant outside the NIDC threshold the department's benefits are built on.
• Degree or diploma certificate not attached, so the claim is settled at Rs 25,000 rather than Rs 50,000.
• Bank account not seeded with Aadhaar, which stalls the DBT transfer even after sanction.
• Application filed long after the marriage, which makes verification harder.

Other support for a differently abled couple in Tamil Nadu

• Maintenance allowance — Rs 2,000 per month, given on the basis of a medical certificate without considering income, to persons with intellectual disability at 40 per cent and above, severely affected persons at 75 per cent and above, and persons with Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, autism spectrum disorder, muscular dystrophy or leprosy at 40 per cent and above. 2,50,987 beneficiaries received it in 2024-25.
• Financial assistance for high support need, Rs 1,000 per month to the caregiver.
• Unemployment allowance for differently abled persons registered with the employment exchange and unemployed for over a year, paid for 10 years by educational qualification.
• Interest-free bank loan up to Rs 1.50 lakh towards the beneficiary's contribution for a house allotted by the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board or built under the Kalaignarin Kanavu Illam scheme, repayable over 5 years.

Help and grievance

• Toll-free helpline: 1800-425-0111, set up exclusively for differently abled persons at the State Resource cum Training Centre, Chennai.
• For hearing impaired persons: video call on WhatsApp 9499933703.
• District level: the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer.
• State level: Commissionerate for Welfare of the Differently Abled, Chennai: scd.tn.gov.in.

Marriage assistance carries no application fee, and no agent is needed to obtain a disability certificate or the assistance itself.

How to check your marriage assistance application status

This scheme is processed offline through the District Differently Abled Welfare Office, so there is no separate online tracking portal for the application itself. Use these routes instead:

1. Keep the acknowledgement from submission. The District Differently Abled Welfare Officer's office gives a dated receipt when the application is filed, either at the counter or, where the application was routed through an e-Sevai centre, as an e-Sevai application number. Quote this number or the submission date whenever you follow up, it is what the office uses to trace your file.
2. Call or visit the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer. This is the office that scrutinises the application, so it is the first and most reliable point to ask whether the file is still under verification, has been sanctioned, or has been sent back for a missing document.
3. Use the e-Sevai centre where the application was filed. If you submitted through e-Sevai rather than directly at the district office, the centre can look up the application number and tell you whether it has moved forward to the department.
4. Call the toll-free helpline, 1800-425-0111. This line is set up exclusively for differently abled persons at the State Resource cum Training Centre, Chennai, and can point you to the right district contact if the local office is not responding. Hearing impaired applicants can instead reach the department over a WhatsApp video call on 9499933703.
5. Watch your bank account for the DBT credit. Since the cash component is paid by Direct Benefit Transfer, a sanctioned application shows up as a credit in the bank account linked with Aadhaar. If the sanction has been confirmed verbally but no credit has come through, raise this specifically with the district office, since it usually points to an Aadhaar seeding or bank account mismatch rather than a pending sanction.
6. Ask about the gold coin separately. The 8-gram gold coin is arranged by the district office alongside the cash assistance but is sometimes collected on a different date, so a status enquiry should ask about both components rather than assuming one confirms the other.

There is no SMS-based status alert or web tracking ID for this particular scheme, so a phone call or in-person visit to the District Differently Abled Welfare Officer remains the dependable way to check progress, particularly if more than a few weeks have passed since filing.