Vidarbha learns the economy of marriage

AMRAVATI/AKOLA AND BULDANA:This is the happiest day of my life,” says Zebunnisa Jamadar, tears rolling down her cheeks, as she watches her daughter Isa Ali enter into wedlock with Nikhet AA Jaffar.

“I had lost all hope of getting my daughter married when my husband died four years ago, leaving behind mounting debts, two sons, and a daughter,” the 59-year-old widow from Vidarbha says.

With just about enough to make ends meet, Zebunnisa spent many a sleepless night on her charpoy waiting for a miracle. Her prayers were finally answered when her daughter, along with 11 other girls, tied the knot in a mass marriage on May 21. The ceremony was simple, but the electric expression on the faces of the parents made up for the lack of fireworks.

Vidarbha, in the news for debt-ridden farmers committing suicide, is scripting a silent reform in Maharashtra’s extortionist marriage market, where ostentation and fat dowries bring ruin upon thousands of families. The region, ravaged by an agrarian crisis, is seeing low-budget community marriages fast gaining acceptance among the people.

Despite the no-frills wedding, Isa Ali is all smiles. She can’t believe she got married under the same roof as Kalpana Dongre, the daughter of Amravati mayor Ashok Dongre. Kalpana, 22, isn’t complaining either. “I am proud that I shared my special moment with 11 other couples,” she says.

“Mass marriages are the best way to eradicate social evils like dowry,” says Kalpana’s mother Seema Dongre. “At the same time, they promote community bonding.”
Thanks to the trend, Kalawati Bandurkar, whose husband committed suicide in 2005 leaving behind nine daughters, breathes easy. Because of spiralling wedding expenses and the dowry system, Kalawati and many other women like her thought they would never be able to get any of their daughters married. “My husband was reeling under mounting debt,” says Kalawati. “He used to tell me daily that it was a shame we weren’t able to marry our daughters off. Ultimately, he killed himself.”

Taking the initiative are girls from the region, many of whom have witnessed their uncles, brothers, and fathers toil day and night to collect money for their weddings. “Marriages are seen as an occasion to exhibit one’s status,” says social activist Mohan Jadhav of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. “And the bride’s father goes bankrupt trying to live up to societal obligations.” Many families continue to spend lavishly on ‘aher’, a tradition of exchanging gifts during marriages. “This must stop,” say social activists.

Munna Bolenwar, a farmer in Hiwra-Barsa village in Yavatmal, says, “Marriage expenses are hitting the roof while our income is dwindling. The only way we can get our daughters married without incurring additional debts is through mass weddings.”

What started as an initiative to help poor farmers has now caught the fancy of urban brides and grooms as well. Recently, the sleepy town of Gadchiroli saw Arti Naitam, an air-hostess, tie the knot with Rahul Atram, an engineer with a Japan-based MNC, at a mass-marriage ceremony. “It is good that educated and well-to-do couples are coming forward to set an example for others,” says farmers’ leader Vijay Jawandhia.

What started the reform
The trend has its roots in a door-to-door government-sponsored survey in 2005. Vidarbha was making news for an alarming number of farmer suicides. This prompted the government to commission a survey to look into the economic constraints faced by the farmers. Marriage expenditure was cited as one of the reasons for the mounting economic burden and growing indebtedness of cotton farmers.

The survey also revealed that there were as many as three lakh unmarried girls in the crisis-ridden region. The findings led to the formulation of ‘Shubha-Mangal’ — a government-supported mass marriage programme. Various NGOs and social organisations conduct mass weddings for which they are paid Rs1,000 per couple by the goverment. The government also gives Rs10,000 to each couple that ties the knot in a mass wedding.

So far, nearly 19,000 weddings have been solemnised under the scheme in Vidarbha since February 2006. Harshwardhan Patil, Maharashtra minister for women and children’s development, says, “The response to ‘Shubha-Mangal’ has been very good.

A few months ago, we expanded the scheme to cover 29 districts of Maharashtra.” Akola collector Shrikar Pardesi feels it is one of the most effective schemes in the farmers’ relief package.

The scheme’s success has seen many socio-political organisations come forward and host such events without government assistance. Political parties, too, have joined the party in the hope that such an initiative will help them to garner votes. In April, the BJP hosted a big community wedding, where 200 couples got married in the presence of about 10,000 guests. Every year, PWD minister Anil Deshmukh also hosts community marriages in his constituency Katol.

Corruption has crept in
But all is not rosy. Pardesi has put the scheme on hold in his district, following reports of fraudulent marriages and unlawful weddings of minor couples, and ordered an inquiry into the matter. “We have blacklisted the NGOs involved and not released the money yet,” he says. “I don’t want the objective of the programme to become a casualty of corruption.”
h_jaideep@dnaindia.net