Only 100 guests and 10 items in buffet, Punjab MP Introduces Bill In Lok Sabha to cut wedding expenditure

A new Bill was taken up in the Lok Sabha on Friday, which sought to put a cap on the expenditure during a wedding.

The Bill imposed restrictions on the number of guests, the amount spent on food along with the amount spent on gifts for the newlyweds

The ‘Prevention of Wasteful Expenditure on Special Occasions Bill 2020,’ was first introduced in January 2020 by Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill.

Gill recommended that charitable donations be provided to underprivileged individuals, orphanages, or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) rather than costly presents.

According to Gill, the Bill aims to stop the lavish spending that places a heavy financial strain on the bride's family. Gill further said that many have resorted to sell their homes and plots of land and take out loans in order to pay for extravagant weddings.

This, he claimed, "could go a long way in checking female foeticide" because a girl child would no longer be viewed as a burden.

He spoke about his personal experience. In a wedding which he attended in Phagwara in 2019, he saw as many as 285 food trays and saw that no one touched the food from at least 129 of those trays. "It had all gone to waste," he said.

Only 100 guests from both sides of the family shall be invited, and the number of dishes served should not exceed 10. The Bill also limits the amount of money that can be spent on wedding presents to Rs 2,500. Donations to NGOs or the less fortunate segments of society should be made rather than costly gifts.

The MP claimed to have done the same in his own family; at his son and daughter's weddings, just 30 to 40 people attended. This is not the first time a bill to ban extravagant Indian weddings has been proposed. Gopal Chinayya Shetty, a Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai North and BJP leader, submitted a bill in December 2017 that attempted to restrict and outlaw extravagant weddings and festivities across the nation.