Ladli Foundation to Champion Mass Wedding & Girls' Education

By: WE staff | Monday, 23 March 2026

The Ladli Foundation, a non-profit that is highly regarded for its grassroots-level CSR initiatives, is going to conduct SHAGUN 2026, a huge mass wedding ceremony (Samuhik Vivah) without dowry for 51 poor women in New Delhi, plus tuition sponsorship for 101 girls for a period of nine years. The venue of the event will be The Zora, Delhi Convention Centre, New Delhi, on March 30, 2026. The ceremony will be graced by the esteemed presence of Sh. Ram Nath Kovind, Hon’ble 14th President of India, along with Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, adding further significance to this noble initiative.

SHAGUN 2026 is a remarkable movement that goes beyond just the celebration of marriage and comes to the rescue of the poorest families in India. It sets out to eradicate dowry, stop child marriage and change the community beliefs in such a way that the women and girls in difficult situations will be regarded and empowered. SHAGUN 2026, converting marriages into access points for rights and services, guarantees that every woman getting married is treated with dignity, has support, and is free from the impacts of dowry and debt.

The event will take care of the venue, meals, transportation, and ceremony while also stressing "after-marriage empowerment" so that beneficiaries feel safe and have opportunities. For this, each beneficiary will be supported to the tune of ₹1,00,000 for skills and livelihood training, ₹7,50,000 for medical insurance, ₹1,00,000 as direct financial support to ensure a stable start, marriage registration support, mentoring for soft skills and lifelong learning, all directed to the cultivation of enduring self-sufficiency.

Another noteworthy aspect of the event is that one of the safety measures for women will be conducting thorough background checks of the grooms as part of the program, making sure that each bride is entering a safe environment and is not liable to be subjected to abuse, fraud, or exploitation. One of the most innovative components of SHAGUN 2026 is the planned “community accountability” framework in which families of senior civil servants and police leaders (IAS/IPS and senior officers) will symbolically and socially associate with beneficiary families.

Devendra Kumar, Founder Ladli Foundation, said, “SHAGUN is a celebration of our daughters and a promise of their future in the long run. We would like the community not merely to observe the event but to support our daughters in their effort to create a world where no woman has to go through dowry-related violence or discrimination or be afraid. Supporting SHAGUN is supporting a safer and more equal India.”

Ladli Foundation has also reported that Project SHAGUN has reached out to more than 2,067 women and has changed the marriage practices by bringing dignity, support from the community, and empowerment to the women instead of exploitation and debt.