Bill seeks curb on extravagant weddings, cap on guests

Hyderabad: The Marriages (Compulsory Registration and Prevention of Wasteful Expenditure) Bill, 2016, may be taken up as a private member’s Bill in the upcoming Lok Sabha session which aims at prohibiting extravagant and wasteful expenditure on marriages and enforcing simpler solemnization. The Bill is introduced by Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan, wife of MP Pappu Yadav.

The Bill also seeks to put a limit on the number of guests invited and dishes served at weddings. If the proposed legislation comes into force it will obligate a family which spends above Rs 5 lakh on a wedding, to contribute 10 per cent of the amount on marriages of girls from poor families.

Ranjeet Ranjan says, these days there is a tendency of celebrating marriages with pomp and show and spending lavishly. “These days, marriages are more about showing off your wealth and as a result, poor families are under tremendous social pressure to spend more. This is needed to be checked as it is not good for society at large,” she added.

After this proposed legislation comes into force the government may fix the limit of guests and relatives and number of dishes to be served to the guests for solemnisation of marriage.

It is not out of place to mention here that Siasat Urdu Daily has long been striving against extravagant marriage functions. Its editor Mr. Zahid Ali Khan has repeatedly appealed to the people to conduct simple marriages and also launched ‘one dish one sweet’ campaign which received overwhelming response.