Lok Sabha Bill seeks to limit the number of guests, amount of food served at weddings
Families that spend more than Rs 5 lakh on the ceremony must contribute 10% of the amount to a welfare fund, the proposed legislation says.
A Bill seeking to cap the number of guests that can be invited to an Indian wedding has been introduced in the Lok Sabha by Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan, PTI reported. The Bill could be taken up as a private member’s Bill in the next Lok Sabha session.
The Marriages (Compulsory Registration and Prevention of Wasteful Expenditure) Bill, 2016, proposes that families that spend more than Rs 5 lakh for a wedding must declare the amount and contribute 10% of it to a welfare fund that will be established by the government. This contribution will be used to help families who live below the poverty line pay for their daughters’ weddings, the Bill says.
The government may specify the number of guests and relatives, and the number of dishes served to the guests during the ceremony or at the reception after, so that wastage of food items is avoided, the Bill adds.
Ranjan said the fashion of spending lavishly is growing in the country. Marriages have become more about “showing off your wealth”, as a result of which the poor feel that they are under “social pressure to spend more”, she said. Ranjeet Ranjan is the wife of Rajesh Ranjan, better known as Pappu Yadav.
