The inter-caste marriages in India have been gradually gaining acceptance due to increasing education, employment, middle-class economic background, and urbanisation [citation needed].
[1][2] In India, inter-caste marriages were publicly encouraged and supported by the incumbent government under Narendra Modi by the offering of financial encouragement to those who marry people from lower castes,[3] C. N. Annadurai, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,[4] and social activists such as Periyar E. V. Ramasamy,[5][need quotation to verify] Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu[citation needed] and Manthena Venkata Raju.
[citation needed] In the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the Government offers a cash award for inter-caste couples.
[8] In 2017, the Prime minister Narendra Modi started a scheme in which 2.5 lakh, that is 250,000 rupees will be given to inter-caste couples if one of them is a Dalit.
[10][dubious – discuss] In a 2010 report, the National Commission for Women (NCW) documented 326 cases of honour crime in the past year, the majority of which were due to inter-caste marriages.