Opinion: No job, no marriage… Will the army of bachelors not allow Modi to be blessed?

Author: Jaideep Hardikar
A master’s degree young man from Western Vidarbha played a joke on himself and then laughed out loud. I asked him/her, ‘What do you do?’ he/she said, ‘I am well educated, unemployed and unmarried.’ Half a dozen friends sitting at his/her paan shop started laughing because they knew the joke was on them too. They were all in their 30s; Graduate or Postgraduate; Unemployed and unmarried. The incident took place in a small cotton-growing village in Yavatmal in the mid-1930s. he/she asked why a woman should marry him/her? Two of them argued that even if they found a bride, they would not marry because they would not be able to support the family properly with such a low income. he/she also said that he/she would not marry his/her sisters to men who depend only on income from farming. The conversation ended with almost a consensus that there would never be a radical change in their financial situation in their life.

These days, the first choice of potential brides are men with government jobs, who cannot be found. After that there are private jobs which are decreasing. Then the youth with their own business, who have agricultural land. The biggest question is what is the groom’s annual income? Overall, finding a good partner has become an equally difficult task for prospective brides in villages.

When I asked how many unmarried youth were there in the village, about two dozen men who were already of marriageable age came to the shop. he/she told that the number of such people is even more. At least half of them were over 35 years of age, so the question of marriage did not arise. Due to shyness he/she had stopped attending family weddings. One of them said, ‘Everyone asks, when is your turn?’ it’s embarrassing.

Even if the level of marriage anxiety has reached the level of anger, young men resort to false laughter to prevent it from being expressed. In this sequence, they also make fun of each other’s virginity by placing stones on their hearts. Usually in the villages here, men or women get married by the mid-1920s.

Unemployment is not a new problem, nor is lack of skills or quality education, or unemployability. But in the rural areas of the prosperous state of Maharashtra, unemployment and agricultural distress are causing social turmoil, even if it is not acknowledged. Educated and unemployed men whose only source of income is farming are not able to find suitable brides for themselves. Jobs are a mirage. Farming is not a profitable deal.

Why is this worrying and what are the factors fueling this trend? This is not an easy question. One, the rural economy has been under pressure for a very long time. Second, the social status of those castes and classes which own large amounts of land has declined. Third, the new generation of rural youth is more educated and has better information. he/she is as ambitious as urban youth, although he/she lacks other skills, including social and practical ones.

Delay in marriage in rural areas is also not a new thing. It is common for marriages to be postponed if crops fail. But earlier such things happened less. Today, cases of postponement of marriage have increased. This is somewhat higher among land owning OBC communities. Good and higher education was considered the ticket to good jobs. Now good jobs are the ticket to get brides for boys and grooms for boys.

Remember ‘Toilet: Ek Prem Katha’? No toilet, no marriage. Add ‘Job: Ek Prem Katha’ to this. If you want to get married you need a job. Farmer parents do not want their daughters to work in the fields and do the hard work they have endured all their lives.

Marriageable young women, who are better educated and ambitious than previous generations, are preferring men who have permanent jobs in cities and some land at home. The situation is even worse in districts with low sex ratio like Beed in Marathwada. The area, which is rich in sugarcane production, is also no exception to this.

This is actually a problem of the entire country. Sociologist Alka Malavade Basu and population data analyst Sneha Kumar analyzed data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in a 2022 study. They found that changes in economic conditions, including unemployment, are forcing changes in traditional marriage practices across the country, causing men to wait longer to get married.

Such concern can also be seen in the Hindi belt where there used to be a somewhat feudal atmosphere. In fact, people who are fed up with the problems of uncertain income from farming, increasing debt and expensive higher education as well as economic struggles in villages, have started discussing politics more. Due to this, the mathematics of caste and class may break down in the Lok Sabha elections. As one man explained, ‘I was 24 years old in 2014. I am 34 years old in 2024. Nothing has changed for me. Leaving aside the outcome of the 2024 elections, this feeling of disillusionment and resentment among working men and women is like a volcano about to erupt.

From the poorest eastern tip of Maharashtra to the more affluent western sugar belt, Maharashtra’s rural areas are filled with young and educated men, unwed farmers, and those well past marriageable age. You will find all kinds of bachelors and M degree holders who have tried their luck in the industrial belt of Mumbai-Pune-Nashik – but they have failed. Some of them have worked on contract for meager wages, lived in crowded shared rooms or rooms, tried their luck in competitive exams to get a job or are still trying and failing.

Regional imbalance within the state is increasing this anger. Vidarbha and Marathwada are facing agricultural crisis for a very long time. Both are rain-dependent areas and no new industry or sector has attracted educated rural youth in the last two decades. Marathwada is also facing water crisis, due to which there is continuous drought situation. No one wants to marry his/her daughter in a village where there is water shortage, unless the groom is working in a distant city. All this has not happened suddenly. Nor is it limited to rural Maharashtra only.

The author is associated with People’s Archive of Rural India.