As many as 50 differently-abled and underprivileged couples tied the nuptial knot at a mass wedding ceremony in Udaipur on Monday, while sending across the message of environment protection. The newly-married couples were presented with saplings to plant outside their houses and dustbins to maintain cleanliness.
Most of the couples, hailing from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, underwent free disability corrective surgery at the hospital of Narayan Seva Sansthan (NSS), a philanthropic institution, which organised the ceremony. This was the 38th mass wedding ceremony in Udaipur, in which the celebrations took place like any other wedding, with all rituals and processions.
The brides and grooms garlanded each other on the stage amid showering of rose petals and the pandal at Seva Mahatirtha reverberated with applause and greetings. The marriages were solemnised with the recitation of Vedic mantras and observance of rituals, including toran and henna ceremony.
NSS founder-chairman Kailash Manav said the differently-abled men and women had found their soul mates and got married with the support of the charitable institution, which had nurtured their skills after their corrective surgeries and enabled them to earn a sustainable livelihood through job-oriented training.
Among the couples, some had disability of their legs and others with arms, while a few couples comprised a differently-abled and a normal partner. The guests who attended the ceremony presented clothes and jewellery to the couples. The NSS also provided entire household items to each couple with the help of donors.
Industries Minister Shakuntala Rawat, who was the chief guest in the ceremony, said the differently-abled couples would spend a healthy and prosperous married life with the help of the society at large. Others present on the occasion included Rajasthan Heritage Conservation & Development Authority CEO Tikam Chand Bohra and Devasthan Department’s Assistant Commissioner Deepika Meghwal.
NSS president Prashant Agarwal said this was the 20th year of the institution’s flagship campaign against dowry with the regular holding of mass wedding ceremonies. Several of the couples were skilled through the Sansthan’s vocational training programmes and a few of them had been recruited in the NSS to the jobs which fitted their capacities, he said.
The objectives of mass weddings were social inclusion, accessible atmosphere and accountability of every differently abled person in order to help the couples lead a normal life and become a part of the mainstream society, said Mr. Agarwal.
The NSS has taken up activities such as artificial limb distribution, corrective surgery, skill education, health care support, free food offering and talent nurturing along with mass wedding ceremonies for the differently abled. The institution has also launched the World of Humanity Foundation for nurturing their skills.
