New Lok Sabha bill seeks to curb lavish weddings, introduces cap on spending over Rs 5 lakh

A new bill recently introduced in the Lok Sabha seeks to put a cap on the number of guests invited or the number of dishes being served at a wedding, according to a report by PTI. The Marriages (Compulsory Registration and Prevention of Wasteful Expenditure) Bill 2016, has been introduced by Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan, spouse of MP Pappu Yadav.

PTI has reported that, according to the bill, if the expenses for a wedding go above Rs 5 lakh, the family will have to contribute 10 percent of the total expenses to the wedding of girls below the poverty line. The bill is going to be taken up in the upcoming Lok Sabha session as a private member's bill.

Ranjeet, while talking to PTI, said,

The purpose of this bill is to prohibit extravagant and wasteful expenditure on marriages and to enforce simpler solemnisation.

Elaborating further, she told PTI,

Great importance should be assigned to the solemnisation of marriage between two individuals. But unfortunately, these days a tendency of celebrating marriages with pomp and show and spending lavishly is growing in the country. 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.

The bill states that in instances where a family is going to spend more than the decided Rs 5 lakh, it needs to be reported to the appropriate government along with a declaration of the amount that will be spent. In such a case, 10 percent of the total amount spent will be given to the welfare fund established by the appropriate government. This amount collected in the welfare fund will then be utilised to help out in the weddings of girls belonging to underprivileged families. After this proposed bill is passed, all weddings and the associated spending will have to be declared within 60 days of being legalised.

It has been reported by PTI that the government may fix the limit of guests and relatives and the number of dishes to be served as it may deem necessary to prevent the wastage of food items.

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