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The evolution of relationships and the concept of love marriage has led to people fearing arranged marriages. Arranged marriages have now turned into an outdated concept and an un-cool thing. But is it really that frightening?

The concept of falling in love and relationships is not alien to our society. Relationships are quite common and college students are well aware of it. It is great that people are quite open to the concept of falling in love and this has pretty much led to the notion where individuals have started to think that love marriages are the only way one is supposed to get married. But are arrange marriages really that frightening?

India is a country where more than 85% of the marriages are arranged. A report published by Maps of India in 2013 states that the divorce rates in India are as low as 1.2%, in contrary to 53% in the United States of America. This data is also the result of many differences between the two countries and the way marriages are seen, but the difference reflects that there is mutual consent between two people to continue as a married couple.

It is no less than an achievement to see people having love marriages and it is great that people are becoming more receptive towards this concept. But as budding individuals, it is not right on our part to develop a mentality where we start opposing arranged marriages as a possibility. There are some legitimate lines on which arranged marriages are questioned. When asked about an opinion on arranged marriages, Shreya Singhal, a student of the University of Delhi said “I feel that arranged marriages are ridiculous. How can we expect two random individuals to live together for the rest of their lives?”

The concept of arranged marriages has been working since a long time, and to question it is to refute the many success stories of the prevailing generation of parents whose marriages were arranged when they were young. Something must be going right to make these marriages work. We are at an interesting phase where we can witness both kinds of marriages. We as burgeoning individuals should learn how these differing kinds of marriages work and figure out what’s best for us.

The other “problem” with arranged marriages is that it is seen as an outdated notion and people associate the preference of an arranged marriage with being conventional. In a report published by Medium in 2016, 75.4% women prefer having arranged marriages. The number is lower than the previous statistics but it still signifies that a large chunk of women are still affirmative towards the concept.

The idea of the piece and all the statistics is to not be conclusive about what is happening with both kinds of marriages. We are in a transitional phase where love marriages are becoming more and more socially acceptable which is a great sign of progress in the mentality of the society. But at the same time, opposing arranged marriages and being judgmental about it is not the way to go.

 

Feature Image Credits: Identity Magazine

Karan Singhania

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