It doesn’t come as a surprise that India has the lowest divorce rate in the world, which sounds good but isn’t necessarily a good sign.
According to a report, stating the ten most and least divorced nations, India stood at the lowest with a contribution of 1% to the total divorces in the world.
Only 13 marriages out of 1,000 result in divorces in our country, making it even less than 1% which clearly tells us that people here are more comfortable with unhappy marriages rather than a broken marriage. Couples could be living under the same roof but be separated for years, maintaining a thin line between failed marriages and divorces.
The main reason for this atrocity remains societal pressure. People think that they are liable to live according to society’s idea of what counts as a good life, which is basically putting efforts for everybody’s happiness but yours. The need for seeking everyone’s validation has made our decisions restricted and counterproductive.
Furthermore, the concept of arranged marriages completely ignores the needs of the only two people involved. As long as their families are happy, who cares about them? And these are the same families who turn their backs on the couple when they are withstanding marital problems by giving the ultimate solution, “Have a kid, that’ll solve everything”.
Apart from this, there is hardly any concept of remarriage in our society, so a lot of people drop the idea of divorce and incline towards adjusting due to the fear of dying alone rather than having a second chance at love. Because, after somebody gathers all the courage to let go of an unhealthy marriage and start a new life, how dare they consider moving on with someone new?
How many times have we compromised our happiness over the thought of log kya kahenge? This fear is indulged inside us so deeply that we follow the ideology of “Sanskar over happiness” but at what stake?
Staying in failed marriages not only creates life long problems but also promotes the mentality in the future generations that it’s okay to stay with someone you’re not happy with, only giving rise to toxic relationships with a dead end.
We’re long into 2019 and still the Indian society, a society whose utopian dreams has made the younger generation hell-bent on westernising themselves, remains deeply rooted in centuries’ old values. Low divorce rate might look nice and ideal on paper but in practical, it hints at the rigidity in our society. Indian society needs to understand that divorce is not the end of a happy marriage but an escape from a bad marriage. In the end, it results in two happy individuals rather than one miserable couple.
Feature Image Credits:
Avni Dhawan
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