Though the dowry system is not prevalent in Assam, parents want to give some useful items to their daughter during the daughter's marriage. Parents want to give gifts apart from love, blessings to their children, irrespective of their social and economic status.
However, some parents may not be able to meet their expectations even if they want to because of financial hardship. As gold or gold jewelry is considered as a precious metal, parents give gold ornaments as gifts to enhance their daughter's social and economic status.
To make the above-discussed issue a success, the Assam government decided to introduce a new scheme called the "Arundhati Gold Scheme".
Objectives of the Arundhati Gold scheme:
The main objective of the scheme is to provide little relief to parents who are found to be finding it difficult to give their daughters the gift of gold jewelry due to financial difficulties. Keeping this objective in mind, the state government has given Rs 40,000 to financially weak parents to buy gold as a blessing for their daughter's marriage.
The Department of Revenue and Disaster Management will play a role as the chief department in implementing the Arundhati Gold Scheme.
Eligibility criteria for the Arundhati scheme:
1) The minimum age of the bride and groom should be 21 and 18 years at the time of registration of marriage respectively.
2) The marriage of the applicant must be registered under the Special Marriage Act 1954.
3) The applicant must be married on or after December 1, 2019.
4) The applicant has to register for marriage on or after January 1, 2020.
5) The applicant has to apply for the benefits to be received under the Arundhati Gold Gift Scheme on the day of applying for marriage registration.
6) The annual income of the applicant's parents should be less than Rs 5 lakh.
7) The benefit of this benefit will be applicable only for the first marriage of the applicant.
8) The minimum educational qualification of brides of all communities other than tribal communities and tea tribes of the state should pass the HSLC Examination or equivalent examination.
9) There is no need for minimum educational qualification for tea tribes covering tribal communities as most tea gardens in Assam do not have high school facilities.
Required Documents:
1) Documents for age proof
- a) Certificate of passing HSLC or CBSC or equivalent examination as proof of age excluding tea tribes and tribal communities, thereby proving that the age of the bride is 18 years in terms of law and the age of the groom is 21 years.
- b) The tea tribes including the tribal community shall submit the birth certificate or any educational certificate of birth of both the groom and the bride issued by the notified authority at the time of registration of marriage or through health check-up by the appropriate authority to establish that the age of the bride and groom is 18 and 21 years respectively under the Special Marriage Act 1954.
2. The attested copy of the Certificate of Marriage, issued by the Marriage Officer, in the form specified in the fourth schedule of Special Marriage (Assam) Act, 1954.
3. The income certificate of the parents of the applicant issued by the Circle Officer of the area in which she resided permanently with her parents.
4. Bank Account details of the beneficiary/ copy of Bank passbook of the beneficiary.
5. A certificate issued by the Gaonburah/Mouzadar of the village in which the girl resided with her parents before marriage stating that this is the first marriage of the applicant girl.
How to Apply
1) The applicant shall apply for Arundhati Gold Scheme on the day of application for registration of marriage under the Special Marriage Act (Special Marriage Act) 1954.
2. Filled-up physical application form shall be submitted by the applicant along with the Marriage application in the office of the Marriage officer where the registration of marriage is applied for.
3) The applicant must also submit an online form to claim benefits under the Arundhati Gold Scheme. The online application form is available in the Important Link section below and also in revenueassam.nic.in.
4) After filling the form, the applicant is required to submit the form by clicking on the submit button at the end of the form and keep out a print out of the application form.
5. The applicant must take the printout of the form before submission, sign the declaration part of the printed form and submit the same physically along with a copy of all documents listed at Point D above, in the office of the concerned Marriage Registration Officer. The list of Sub Register offices where the application form under the Arundhati Gold Scheme and its enclosures can be submitted is given in Point F of the guidelines.
6) The applicant shall obtain a receipt after submitting the application form and necessary documents from the office of the marriage registration officer.
7. The information of acceptance/rejection of the application will be communicated to the applicant by SMS and email (on the Mobile No/ email id given in the online application form).
8) If the application form is accepted by the concerned Marriage Registration Officer, the amount received under the scheme will be transferred to the applicant's bank account by the Inspector General of Registration through Direct Benefits Transfer(DBT) mode. The Bank A/c No shall be the same as per details given in the online form where Bank A/c No. with IFSC code has been given.
Important Links
| Online Application | Click Here |
| Track Status | Click Here |
| Refix Date | Click Here |
- Read: Assamese Newspaper
