Shadi Anudan Yojana (Uttar Pradesh Marriage Grant)

What is Shadi Anudan Yojana in Uttar Pradesh?

Shadi Anudan Yojana is a marriage grant run by the Government of Uttar Pradesh for families living below the poverty line. The scheme pays Rs 20,000 to help meet the cost of a daughter's wedding, and the money goes straight into the applicant's bank account by Direct Benefit Transfer. Locally the scheme is known as Vivah Anudan or the "garib parivar ki putri ki shadi anudan yojana".

Three departments run the scheme in parallel through a single portal at shadianudan.upsdc.gov.in. The Social Welfare Department processes general, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe applicants, the Backward Class Welfare Department processes Other Backward Class applicants, and a separate route exists for minority communities. Applicants pick the correct department when they register; the eligibility test, the amount and the process are otherwise the same.

The purpose is twofold. The obvious one is money, a wedding pushes a poor household into debt, and Rs 20,000 covers part of that. The second is legal age enforcement: the scheme pays only when the bride is 18 and the groom 21, so families that would otherwise marry a daughter early lose the grant by doing so. Uttar Pradesh has reported disbursing over Rs 1,221 crore to about 6.1 lakh daughters under the scheme over roughly eight years.

Main features

• Grant of Rs 20,000 per daughter, paid by DBT.
• Maximum two daughters per family.
• Application window of 90 days before to 90 days after the marriage.
• Bride aged 18 or above, groom aged 21 or above.
• Fully online application; verification is done offline by the Block Development Officer or Sub-Divisional Magistrate.

Who is eligible for Shadi Anudan Yojana?

You can claim the grant if:

• You are a permanent resident of Uttar Pradesh and the family lives in the state.
• Your family is below the poverty line, with annual income up to Rs 46,080 in rural areas and Rs 56,460 in urban areas under the general, SC and ST route, or up to Rs 1,00,000 a year under the backward class route.
• The bride is 18 years or older and the groom 21 years or older on the wedding date.
• You are the parent or legal guardian of the bride, and the bank account is in your name.
• This is the first or second daughter of the family to claim the grant.
• The marriage took place, or will take place, within the 90-day window on either side of your application date.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• Family income is above the ceiling for your category. This is checked against the Tehsildar's income certificate, not a self-declaration.
• The bride was under 18 or the groom under 21 on the wedding date. Such an application is rejected outright, and a child marriage is separately an offence.
• Two daughters of the family have already received the grant.
• The application is filed more than 90 days after the wedding, or more than 90 days before it.
• The applicant is not a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
• The bank account given is not in the applicant's own name, or is not Aadhaar-seeded, so DBT cannot reach it.

What documents are required for Shadi Anudan Yojana?

Keep the file sizes small and the scans readable. The portal has upload size limits, and an unreadable income certificate is the commonest reason a file is returned at the verification stage.

How to apply for Shadi Anudan Yojana online

1. Open shadianudan.upsdc.gov.in and choose your department from the home page, Social Welfare for general, SC and ST applicants, Backward Class Welfare for OBC applicants, or the minority route.
2. Click New Registration, then enter the district, the applicant's name, the daughter's name, category, mobile number, the date of marriage and the annual family income.
3. Submit the registration and note the application registration number and password shown on screen. Print or screenshot this page. You need it for every later step.
4. Log in with that registration number, complete the remaining sections with bank account number, IFSC and full address, and check every field against your documents before saving.
5. Upload the scanned documents; Aadhaar of applicant and daughter, income certificate, caste certificate, age proofs, marriage proof, bank passbook and photographs.
6. Submit the final form and take a printout of the completed application.
7. Submit the printed form with self-attested photocopies of all documents to the Block Development Officer in a rural area, or the Sub-Divisional Magistrate or the district Social Welfare Officer in an urban area, for verification.
8. Track the file on the portal under the application status link until it shows sanctioned and paid.

How to apply for Shadi Anudan Yojana offline

1. Visit the district Social Welfare Office, the Backward Class Welfare Office or the Block Development Officer and ask for help with a Shadi Anudan application.
2. Carry originals and photocopies of the income certificate, caste certificate, Aadhaar cards, age proofs, marriage proof and bank passbook.
3. Ask the office or a nearby Jan Seva Kendra to fill the online form for you and hand you the printed acknowledgement with the registration number.

There is no purely paper route to sanction — every application ends up on the portal, but the offices and Jan Seva Kendras exist precisely so that families without internet access can still file.

How to check Shadi Anudan Yojana application status

1. Open shadianudan.upsdc.gov.in and select your department.
2. Click the application status or login link.
3. Enter your registration number, password and the date of marriage, then submit.
4. Read the current stage, pending with BDO or SDM, forwarded to the district officer, sanctioned, or payment released.

If the status has not moved for several weeks, take the printed application to the office holding the file and ask for the verification to be completed. The physical verification step is where most delays sit, not the online part.

Why Shadi Anudan applications get rejected

• Filed outside the 180-day window: more than 90 days after or before the wedding. This cannot be cured; the application must be timed correctly.
• Income above the ceiling on the Tehsildar's certificate.
• Bride under 18 or groom under 21 on the marriage date.
• Third daughter of the same family applying.
• Wrong department chosen at registration, so the file sits with an officer who has no power to sanction it. Register afresh under the correct department.
• Bank account not in the applicant's name, or not Aadhaar-seeded, so the DBT fails and the payment bounces back.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, bank passbook and the application.
• Physical documents never submitted to the BDO or SDM after the online filing. The online form alone does not complete the application.

Key timing rules for Shadi Anudan Yojana

Shadi Anudan Yojana has no annual last date. The clock runs from your own wedding date: the application must reach the portal within 90 days before or 90 days after the marriage. Applying before the wedding, as soon as the date is fixed, is the safer choice, because it leaves room to fix a document defect while the window is still open. Budgets are also allotted district-wise each financial year, so applications filed early in the year are usually sanctioned faster than those filed in February and March.

Where to complain about a Shadi Anudan problem

• Social Welfare Department helpline: 18004190001, for general, SC and ST applicants.
• Backward Class Welfare Department: 0522-2288861 or 18001805131.
• Minority Welfare: 0522-2286199.
• District Social Welfare Officer of your district, for a file stuck at verification.
• Jansunwai portal at jansunwai.up.nic.in, the Uttar Pradesh Integrated Grievance Redressal System, for a written complaint with a trackable reference number.

Application under Shadi Anudan Yojana is free. No official can demand a share of the Rs 20,000, and no agent can promise to "get the grant sanctioned" for a fee.