Lucknow, Oct 16 (IANS): The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is holding a 'Vivah Pakhwara later this month -- a fortnight during which community wedding ceremonies will be organised.

This is aimed at promoting the chief minister's 'Samoohik Vivah' scheme, which was announced shortly after Yogi Adityanath became the chief minister for the first time in 2017.

More than 1.91 lakh couples have tied the knot under the Samoohik Vivah scheme till August this year.

A government spokesperson said that out of the 1.91 lakh couples, 21,025 were from minority communities, 60,875 were OBCs, 10,129 were from the SC/ ST community while 7,858 were from the general category.

"To ensure the success of the scheme, the local public representative and administration official play the role of the hosts and parents of the couples are present to give them blessings. The aim of these ceremonies is to prevent unnecessary expenditure and ostentation, which often forces the family of a girl into penury. The government had made provision of Rs 600 crore in the budget for this scheme," the spokesperson said.

This scheme is also proving to be beneficial in preventing child marriages, the spokesperson said, explaining that now with families assured of a proper function and basic arrangements for their daughters' weddings, they were not in a hurry to marry them off and were allowing them to study.

The government spends Rs 51,000 on each couple under this scheme.

Of this, Rs 35,000 is deposited into the account of the beneficiary girl or woman while goods worth Rs 10,000 from the remaining funds are given to the couple and Rs 6,000 is spent on the ceremony.

A family whose annual income is less than Rs 2 lakh is eligible for this scheme. The age of a girl must be 18 years or above and that of a boy 21 years or more. The beneficiaries must be residents of UP.