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    Groom wanted: Trader, peon… anyone but a farmer

    Synopsis

    "All the families and girls I approached said they would prefer a peon in private or government service over a farmer,” a farmer says.

    TNN
    (This story originally appeared in on Jan 01, 2018)
    Kishore Savale, 32, has eight acres of irrigated land worth Rs 1.2 crore, a master’s degree in library science and a diploma in education but none of these has helped him find a bride in the past four years. He has approached more than 30 families with a marriage proposal and each time, he has been turned down for one reason — he is a farmer.

    “All the families and girls I approached said they would prefer a peon in private or government service over a farmer,” says Kishor who comes from Dongar Shewali village in Buldhana district of Vidarbha in Maharashtra — the region infamous for farmer suicides.

    Despite nature’s unpredictability and other odds, Kishor earns a minimum of Rs 20,000 every month from his farm but evidently, that is no comfort to prospective brides. As for Kishor, his only expectation is that the girl should be educated. But the past four years, says Kishor, have made him consider quitting farming to take up a job, “even that of a peon”, just to get married.

    Vishwas Belekar of Galadgawadi in Belagavi district of Karnataka did just that. Belekar has two-and-a-half acres of land where he grows tobacco and is the only son in a well-settled family. When he realised that his wedding proposals were being rejected due to his status as a farmer, he took up a temporary job in the silver industry in Hupri town in neighbouring Maharashtra. After getting married, Belekar returned to agriculture.

    But in Belekar’s own home, his sisters Vanita and Savita refused to marry farmers. After turning down several suitors, they married small entrepreneurs who earn much less than a farmer would.

    “This is the general scenario. Many boys come complaining that no girl is ready to marry them and we should do something about it,” says Sowmya S R of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, a farmers’ body in the state. “Even girls from small villages are rejecting farmers.” Agriculture, she adds, is not considered a reliable source of livelihood.

    In Madhya Pradesh, young farmers are bristling. “Boys who are into agriculture are not getting brides. This shows the status of Indian farmers in our society. Don’t be surprised if a generation of young farmers remains unmarried. I’m not exaggerating, it is a cruel reality we are facing,” says veteran farmer leader Shiv Kumar Sharma.

    According to Sharma, the decline in eligibility is because of smaller landholdings and reducing profitability of agriculture. “Why would a girl want to marry a farmer in such a situation?” asks Sharma.

    Surjit Singh, a farmer near Ludhiana, says the agricultural tradition in his family will end with him. “My son has settled in US and my daughter is a gynaecologist. There is no possibility that they will be in agriculture. Nobody wants to be a farmer and no girl wants to marry a farmer. It is a bitter fact,” he says.

    The census shows that between 2001 and 2011, 9 million farmers quit cultivation for various reasons. The number will only go up drastically in the next few years, say agricultural experts.

    Pallavi Nimbule, a BSc student of Akluj in Maharashtra, says she would not even think of marrying a farmer. She has a reason: her father Baburao ended his life after his crop failed in 1999 and Nimbule remembers her mother Dhondabai’s struggle to survive and feed the family.

    Given the plight of farmer grooms, a majority of marriage bureaus across states don’t even list the names of boys whose occupation is agriculture. The government has made known its intention to double farmers’ income by 2022, but not many believe that’s going to help them regain their social and economic status.

    “Forget any status, I am struggling even to get a wife,” rues Kishor.


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