Marriage Registration Campaign Begins
Members of the State Women’s Commission will carry out visits to government offices in the district to sensitise officials on the need for registering their marriage. A circular on compulsory registration was issued to all government offices recently. The filled-in application forms along with the supporting documents will be collected from the officials and the necessary procedures will be set in motion, said G.P. Godhanavalli, Co-ordinator of the State Women’s Commission.After all the applications were collected, a mass registration camp would be organised thereby saving the applicants the trouble of waiting in long queues outside the sub-registrars’ offices. The Commission expected to register about 2,000 marriages by the end of February. The Women’s Commission launched the compulsory marriage registration campaign last year to ensure that the general public was made aware of the need for registering their marriages. The State-wide campaign was first launched in Coimbatore.
Colleges had also shown interest in involving themselves in the campaign. Bharathiar University, Ramakrishna Arts and Science College, Bishop Appasamy College of Arts and Science and PSGR Krishnammal College for Women had sent their NSS volunteers to spread awareness on compulsory registration. After the campaign in government offices, the Women’s Commission would focus on colleges and universities, Ms. Godhanavalli said. Awareness regarding marriage registration was abysmally low among the public. Christian and Muslim marriages were registered at the church or the mosque as part of the ritual but, most Hindu weddings did not insist on registration, she said.
