By IANS,
Indore (Madhya Pradesh) : Nearly 600 couples tied the knot Monday in a mass marriage ceremony held here in Madhya Pradesh on the occasion of Hindu festival Ram Navmi.
Over 125,000 people, including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, were present on the occasion in which couples from different sections of society were married.
The chief minister blessed the newly wed couples and wished them a happy married life. He said that the state government was committed to the welfare of weaker sections of society.
The district administration and Yuva Bhartiya Sangathan organized the ceremony.
The scheme called Deendayal Antodyaya Mission, aimed at conducting marriages of disabled, poor and destitute women, was launched in Madhya Pradesh in 2006 with the marriages of 251 couples.
The scheme envisages assistance of Rs.5,000 for household arrangements to each person unable to marry for want of money. This financial assistance is given from funds collected through the mission at the district level.
The newly-wed couples Monday were given gifts worth Rs.10,000 each.
The ceremony is said to be the biggest ever mass marriage function held in Madhya Pradesh. Earlier, 450 couples were married at a function in Jabalpur.