Wanted: A more graceful way of checking for loo in groom’s home

BHOPAL: This is one pre-wedding photo shoot no one would want to remember. But there's no escaping it in Madhya Pradesh if the bride is to get Rs 51,000 under Mukhya Mantri Kanya Vivah/Nikah Scheme .Application forms for the scheme are accepted only after the bride proves that her would-be husband's house has a toilet.And since government officials cannot go around checking loos everywhere, they demand a #selfie-standing-in-toilet from the groom.The embarrassment of standing in a toilet and taking a photograph - thankfully not in wedding regalia - is not limited to rural areas. In the state capital, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials make the same demand."Imagine a marriage certificate, attached with the photograph of the groom in a toilet. I was told that the Qazi will not read the Nikah unless I provide the photograph," said Sameer (name changed), a resident of Bhopal's Jehangirabad. He is one of 74 couples to be wed in mass marriage at Central Library in Bhopal on Thursday."The idea of grooms being required to prove they have a toilet before marrying is not a bad thing. The social justice department has not issued any such directive. The implementation of the policy can be better," said J N Kansotiya, principal secretary of department of social justice and disabled welfare.The toilet clause has been there since launch of scheme in 2013, but the photographs are a recent addition."Earlier, there was a relaxation in the policy. Grooms were told to build a toilet within 30 days of marriage. That has been done away with," said BMC official in charge of the CM marriage scheme, C B Mishra.There is nothing wrong in attaching a photo of the groom in his toilet. It is not part of the wedding card,” said Mishra.It gets even weirder if the bride lives in another city or district. “There was a marriage in Silwani, some 90km from Bhopal. The local government official did not approve the marriage till the groom (back in Bhopal) provided proof of him standing in a toilet. We understand that toilets are an intrinsic part of Swachh Bharat mission, but the process could be better,” said BMC corporator and local Congress leader Rafiq Qureshi. He has organized three mass marriages this year, and with the civic elections scheduled for 2020, there may be scores more mass weddings — and hundreds more groom-in-the loo photos.Politicians on both sides admit that grooms are at the receiving end of this cleanup mission, and wish there was a more graceful way of asking grooms to prove they have toilets.The Mukhya Mantri Kanya Vivah/Nikah Scheme is for economically backward sections. On December 18 last year, only a day after coming to power, the Congress government had hiked the financial assistance from Rs28,000 to Rs51,000. It led to flood of applications, making it difficult for officials to assess each house for toilets.