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Govt. of West Bengal

Department of Women & Child Development and Social Welfare

Rupashree Prakalpa

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  • 1. Introduction

    About Rupashree Prakalpa Definitions Eligibility Criteria Method of applying for the scheme Method of disbursement

  • 2. Scheme Implementation and Monitoring

    Convergence of Departments Project Management Units Application Cycle Grievance Redressal Online Processing and MIS Scheme Monitoring

  • 3. Appendix I: Application Form

Introduction

About Rupashree Prakalpa

  • At 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 a marriage between a couple belonging to any caste or religion or tribe under any law or custom or usage in any form or manner recognized by the law or marriage registered under any law, except a re-marriage.
  • "Competent Authority" means

    • Member of Parliament, Member of Legislature of the area of residence of the applicant
    • Counsellor of ward of municipal areas or Gram Panchayat Pradhan of the area of residence of the applicant

Eligibility Criteria

In this Scheme, unless the context otherwise requires:

  • This scheme shall apply to any woman who proposes to be married if her application satisfies the following criteria:

    • She has attained the age of 18 years AND 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 Commissioner in case the applicant resides in a 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 / Primary School Leaving Certificate
    • Never-married Status: Self-declaration on application form
    • Family income: Self-declaration certified by a Competent Authority
    • Proof of Residence: Self-Declaration certified by a Competent Authority
    • 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, IFSC code and other details
    • Proof of proposed marriage: Any one of the following: Marriage Invitation Card / Notice for Registration of Marriage
    • 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 / Primary School Leaving Certificate (attested by prospective spouse)
    • 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 submittedto the Office of the Block Development Officer, Office of the Sub-Divisional Officer or Office of the Corporation Commission under which the applicant’s residence is located
    AND must be submitted not less than 30 days and not more than 60 daysbefore 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.
Scheme Implementation and Monitoring

Convergence of Departments

  • The Scheme is implemented in a convergent manner by the following Departments of the Government of West Bengal and other organizations in the state:
    Department / Organization Main Responsibilities
    Implementing Department
    Department of Women Development & Social Welfare and Child Development Responsible for leading the programme development, e-governance and management through the State and District Project Management Units and block offices
    Partner Departments
    The Departments of
    • 1. Panchayat Department
    • 2. Urban Development & Municipal Affairs Department
    		 Responsible for implementing the scheme’s programmatic components through their offices and resources, and for ensuring that all the eligible applicants under their respective domains are covered.
    Finance Department Responsible for Budgetary allocations, financial monitoring, assistance in integration with Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) and facilitating cash transfers.
    e-Governance Agency
    National Informatics Centre, West Bengal State Center Assisting the DWD in implementation of end-to-end e-governance mechanisms of the scheme

Project Management Units

  • The scheme will be implemented through Project Management Units established at the various levels / units of governance. Each unit will have its own functionaries who shall be recruited from regular service or on contract.
    State Project Management Unit (SPMU) Established under the Department of Women Development, Child Development and Social Welfare
    • State Project Manager
    • Deputy Project Manager
    • Accounts Officer
    District Project Management Unit (DPMU) under the office of the District Magistrate.
    (Separate DPMUs for GTA and non-GTA areas)    		 1. Accountant
    Rural Areas
    Block Project Management Unit under the office of the BDO
    (With BDO as sanctioning authority)    		 Data entry Operator : For every 10 GPs under the block, there will be one Data Entry Operator (subject to a maximum of 2 Data-entry Operators)
    Urban Areas
    Sub-divisional Project Management Unit under the office of the SDO

    (With SDO as sanctioning authority)
    • Accountant
    • Data entry Operator : For every 3 municipalities under the sub-division, there will be one Data Entry Operator (subject to a maximum of 2 Data-entry Operators)
    Corporations under the Commissioner of Corporations
    (with Commissioner as sanctioning authority)    		 Data entry Operator
  • Nodal officers will be designated at each of the above-mentioned levels and units.

Application Cycle

  • The scheme will be implemented through Project Management Units established at the various levels / units of governance. Each unit will have its own functionaries who shall be recruited from regular service or on contract.
    On-demand availability of application forms at Block, Sub-Divisional and Corporation Offices
    Application forms will be free of cost, and will be available at all Block, Sub-Divisional and Corporation Offices around the year. Available through-out the year
    Sub-mission of application forms and Registration of the same at block (?)
    The applicant will submit the completed application form and all supporting documents to the Block, Sub-Divisional or Corporation Office under which her residence is located.
    Every block / SDO/ Corporation Office will maintain a Rupashree Register, and the receiving officer will, upon receiving the application:
    • Update the Rupashree Register with the date of receipt, application form no., name and address and contact no. of the applicant, and the date of proposed marriage
    • Verify that the application form is complete in all aspects, and that all supporting documents have been 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 any documents are missing, the receiving officer will mark the entry in the Rupashree Register as “Rejected”, mention the reason for the rejection on the Acknowledgement Slip, and return the duly signed and stamped acknowledgement slip to the applicant, along with the rejected application form and supporting documents.
    • The receiving officer will take the signature of the applicant alongside the entry in the Register.
    		The application must be deposited with the appropriate authority 30 to 60 days before the date of the proposed marriage.
    Enrollment of the applicant by the Data-Entry Operator
    A data-entry operator will maintain a database by entering the form /upload the details of the application, along with scanned copies of photographs and supporting documents in offline mode/onto a dedicated web-based portal. Within 3 days of the registration of the application
    Physical verification of the applicant and reporting by the Enquiry Officer
    There will be a primary scrutiny of the application before it is assigned to the Enquiry Officer. During such scrutiny, if the application form or the supporting documents are found to be insufficient / render the applicant ineligible for the scheme, then the application form will be rejected and the applicant will be informed.
    Each application will be assigned to an Enquiry Officer, who will conduct a home-based verification and upload the findings on the portal.
    • 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 neighbors and collect signature from five persons in the neighborhood in support of the 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 as detailed above.
    • If the applicant is a resident of a Corporation, similar enquiry will be done through two officers of corporation under the Supervision of Commissioner of the Corporation as detailed above.
    		Assignment will be done immediately after the application is uploaded Field verification within 15 days of receipt of the assignment Uploading of the verification report should be immediately
    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.
    The applicant whose application is rejected will be informed about such rejection.    		 Immediately after verification report is uploaded
    Direct Bank Transfer for sanctioned applications through IFMS
    The Drawing and Disbursing Officer will, based on fund availability, transfer the sanctioned grant through IFMS. Fund transfer must be executed at least five days before the date of proposed marriage.
  • Nodal officers will be designated at each of the above-mentioned levels and units.

Grievance Redressal

  • Applicants / beneficiaries may report a grievance by phone, online, or by a letter to their respect block, Sub-divisional or Corporation office.
  • Block, Sub-Division and Corporations shall ensure that proper record of the grievances lodged by beneficiaries are maintained, and are addressed without delay.
  • To facilitate grievance handling, the districts shall:
    • Ensure that DPMU, block level, Corporations’ and sub-divisional level nodal officers’ phone numbers are displayed on the notice board of respective offices.
    • Ensure that all nodal officers adequately answer beneficiary queries and complaints.
    • Ensure that all nodal officers conduct regular meetings with staff concerned to ensure that grievances are regularly addressed at local levels.
    • Develop IEC material to clarify the enrollment, scrutiny, sanctioning and benefit transfer procedures, so that the scheme’s processes are transparent to all. Such IEC should also give a realistic indication of the time frame of such processes, so that beneficiaries’ anxieties are dispelled.
  • The scheme will be implemented in all districts of West Bengal.

Online Processing and MIS

  • Rupashree Prakalpa will have an online Processing and MIS that will provide the following major functions:
    Users Functions
    External users, including beneficiaries
    • Grievance Redressal Reporting and tracking
    • Public documents and announcements
    • Any other information that is required for purposes of transparency and accountability
    Internal users at the following levels:
    • Block / Municipality
    • District
    • State
    • Service Delivery management (e-enrollment, e-verification, e-sanction, e-payment)
    • Grievance Redressal Management
    • Fund management
    • User & Security management
    Note: The term ‘management’ includes collection and validation of data required, generation of process and performance reports, as well as management alerts
  • Nodal officers will be designated at each of the above-mentioned levels and units.

Scheme Monitoring

  • The scheme will be monitored at State, District and Sub-divisional levels for effective implementation.
Scheme & Guideline