India, Feb. 11 -- In a small two-room house on the outskirts of Srinagar, Sakina Khan (name changed) carefully folds a new embroidered shawl into a steel trunk. The fabric is modest, not extravagant, but for her family, it represents something they once feared they could no longer afford.
Sakina is preparing for her wedding later this year. Like thousands of other young women from economically weaker households in Kashmir, her marriage plans have been shaped not just by tradition, but by rising costs that have made weddings increasingly unaffordable.
Thanks to the State Marriage Assistance Scheme, which to some extent played a role in meeting her basic expenses.
"My parents were worried. Even basic things like clothes and household items...