Thiruvananthapuram: In a strange social turn in a country known for men calling the shots in marriage, bachelors in Kerala’s rural areas appear to be on the back foot as girls are preferring better educated and well-to-do city dwellers, a survey says.
Rural hands get upwards of 500 rupees per day, which fetches them monthly incomes higher than what many men holding office jobs get, but the preference of girls — even those living in rural areas — appear to be distinctly in favor of office-going young men. And even those young men who own land do not seem to interest the girls.
A survey conducted by Darshakan (indicator), a publication of the Syro-Malabar Church, based in Kottayam district, paints a stark picture of men in rural Kerala desperately seeking life partners. According to the survey, as many as 4,000 young men remain single in various parishes of the Church in the hilly Idukki district alone, Gulf News reported.
Statistics are not available for unmarried men from other religions in the district, but overall social markers point to a similar situation for young men, irrespective of their religion.
According to an article published in Darshakan, “these young men and their near ones are desperate, not knowing what to do. A majority of the young men are of good character, responsible and have a close affinity to the Church. Beyond the social, economic, moral and religious challenges that the situation raises, is the reality of an entire generation losing its continuity”.
While the situation may be most acute in Idukki district where the economy is rooted in agriculture and plantations, young men in rural areas in Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and some districts in the north of the state are also reportedly facing a similar crisis.
Writing in the Syro-Malabar Church publication, social researcher Fr Robin Joseph says the situation has much to do with the revolutionary changes that have taken place in women’s education and employment, which in turn has drastically altered their perception of the ideal husband.
Women in rural areas, he says, have begun dreaming of husbands who can match them in intellectual and social skills, while many men appear to fall short of those high levels of personal development. As a result, many men who once demanded hefty dowry for getting married, are now attending matchmaking events organised by various organisations.
About a decade ago, men from the northern state of Haryana began seeking women from Kerala for marriage, owing to the adverse sex ratio in Haryana which has less than 900 females per 1,000 males. Ironically, men from rural areas in Kerala may feel the same pinch even as the state boasts of more women than men.
Observers point out that the steep downturn in commodity prices are likely to make it even more difficult for men in the farm sector in Kerala to find brides.