Rupashree Prakalpa
Scheme Design
About Rupashree Prakalpa
- In the State Budget for the financial year 2018-19 tabled on 31st January 2018, the Hon’ble Finance Minister, Government of West Bengal, announced a one-time financial grant of Rs. 25,000 for economically stressed families at the time of their adult daughters’ marriages.
- The grant, to be provided under the name of “Rupashree Prakalpa”, is aimed at mitigating the difficulties that poor families face in bearing the expenditure of their daughters’ marriages, for which they often have to borrow money at very high interest rates.
- Rupashree Prakalpa will come into effect on 01 April, 2018 and will be applicable for all marriages effected from 01 April, 2018.
- The scheme will be implemented in all districts of West Bengal.
Definitions
In this Scheme, unless the context otherwise requires:
“Marriage” means and includes marital union between a sound male, not below the age of 21 (twenty one) years and a female, not below the age of 18 (eighteen) years both capable of giving free consent, solemnised by sacrament or any recognised ritual, custom and convention or as a result of free contract or by registration under the Special Marriage Act.
Eligibility Criteria
This scheme shall apply to any woman who proposes to be married if her application satisfies the following criteria:
- The applicant has attained the age of 18 years
- She is unmarried on the date of submitting her application.
- The proposed marriage is her first marriage.
- She was born in West Bengal OR she has been a resident of West Bengal for the last 5 years OR her parents are permanent residents of West Bengal.
- Her family income is not greater than Rs. 1.50 lakhs per annum.
- Her prospective groom has attained the age of 21 years.
- She has an active bank account for which she is the sole account-holder. The bank account must be in a bank that has an IFS Code and an MICR code and transacts e-payments though NEFT.
Method of applying for the scheme
The Scheme’s Application form will be available free-of-cost from the following offices:
- Office of the Block Development Officer in case the applicant resides in a rural area
- Office of the Sub-Divisional Officer in case the applicant resides in Municipal area
- Office of the Municipal Commissioner in case the applicant resides in a Municipal Corporation area
The following documents / certifications must be submitted along with the application form:
- Proof of applicant’s age: Self-attested photo-copy of any one of the following: Birth Certificate / Voter ID card / PAN Card / Madhyamik Admit card / AADHAR card / Government recognized School Leaving Certificate
- Never-married Status: Self-declaration
- Family income: Self-declaration
- Proof of Residence: Self-Declaration
- Bank Account: Self-attested photo-copy of page of bank book which provides complete details of the account holder’s name, account no., bank address, IFS Code and MICR No. and other details
- Proof of proposed marriage: Any one of the following: Marriage Invitation Card / Notice for Registration of Marriage/ Self Declaration.
- Proof of prospective groom’s age: Photocopy of any one of the following: Birth Certificate / Voter ID card / PAN Card / Madhyamik Admit card / AADHAR card / Government recognized School Leaving Certificate
- Coloured passport size photographs of the applicant and the prospective groom.
The completed Application Form, along with all other necessary documents and certifications must be submitted to the Office of the Block Development Officer, Office of the Sub-Divisional Officer or Office of the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation under which the applicant’s residence is located AND must be submitted not less than 30 days and not more than 60 days before the date of the proposed marriage.
Method of disbursement
The scheme’s financial benefit will be paid by direct bank transfer to a bank account held singly in the name of the applicant.
Operational Guidelines
-
Application Processing Cycle
-
On-demand availability of application forms
Un-numbered Application forms (Appendix I) will be free of cost, and will be available at all Block, Sub-Divisional and Municipal Corporation Offices around the year. It can be downloaded from the website https://wcdsw.wb.gov.in/
Submission of application forms and registration of the same
The applicant will submit the completed application form and all supporting documents to the Block, Sub-Divisional or Municipal Corporation Office under which her residence is located. Every block / SDO/ Municipal Corporation Office will maintain a Rupashree Register (Appendix II), and the receiving officer will, upon receiving the application:
- Generate an Application number (Format: 3-digit running serial number / Financial Year) in the Rupashree Register, and fill in all the sections marked ‘for official use’ on the Application Form
- Conduct a primary scrutiny of the application form to verify that all the fields in the form are correctly filled in, and that all necessary documents are appropriately signed and attached.
- If the application is complete in all respect and all the required documents are attached, the receiving officer will mark the entry in the Rupashree Register as “Accepted”, and return a duly signed and stamped Acknowledgement Slip to the applicant.
- If the application is not complete, or the documents are insufficient, the receiving officer will mark the entry in the Rupashree Register as “Returned”. The receiving officer will mention the reason(s) for return on the Acknowledgement Slip, and return the duly signed and stamped acknowledgement slip to the applicant, along with the application form and supporting documents.
Verification of the Application and Enquiry Report
Each application will be assigned to an Enquiry Officer, who will conduct a field verification and submit an Enquiry Report in the format provided in Appendix III
- In the case of rural areas, an Extension Officer of the BDO will be the Enquiry Officer, and will conduct the enquiry jointly with the Executive Assistant/Secretary of the respective Gram Panchayat where the applicant resides. They will jointly visit the residence of the applicant and enquire about the probable marriage for which the assistance is applied. They will talk to the local residents / neighbours and collect signature from five such persons supporting / disproving the applicant’s claim.
- If the applicant is a resident of a Municipality, similar enquiry will be done through two officers of sub-division and or Municipality under the supervision of SDO.
- If the applicant is a resident of a Municipal Corporation, similar enquiry will be done through two officers of Municipal Corporation under the supervision of Commissioner.
Sanction / Rejection of the application
The Sanctioning officer (BDO/ SDO/Commissioner) shall sanction all applications that have been successfully verified, and reject those that have a negative report or are ineligible in the format provided in Appendix III Page 5 of 8
The applicant whose application is rejected will be informed about such rejection.
Direct Bank Transfer for sanctioned applications through IFMS
The Drawing and Disbursing Officer will, based on fund availability, transfer the sanctioned grant through IFMS to the bank account of the applicant. The Fund transfer must be executed at least five days before the date of proposed marriage.