Inter-caste marriages in India

The inter-caste marriages in India have been gradually gaining acceptance due to increasing education, employment, middle-class economic background, and urbanisation [citation needed]. As of the 2011 census, 5.8% of the marriages in India were inter-caste marriages.[1][2]

In India, inter-caste marriages were publicly encouraged and supported by the incumbent government under Narendra Modi by the offering of financial encouragement to those who marry people from lower castes,[3] C. N. Annadurai, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,[4] and social activists such as Periyar E. V. Ramasamy,[5][need quotation to verify] Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu[citation needed] and Manthena Venkata Raju.[citation needed] In the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the Government offers a cash award for inter-caste couples.[6] The Supreme Court of India has also declared that inter-caste marriages are in the national interest and a unifying factor for the nation[7] and there has never been a bar on inter-caste or inter-religion marriages in independent India.[8]

In 2017, the Prime minister Narendra Modi started a scheme in which 2.5 lakh, that is 250,000 rupees will be given to inter-caste couples if one of them is a Dalit.[3]

  1. ^ Tish Sanghera (22 October 2020). "Inter-caste marriages depend on education level, but not that of the couple". Business Standard. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  2. ^ thehindu.com: 'Caste no bar', in words if not in action
  3. ^ a b "Modi government push for inter-caste marriages; offers Rs 2.5 lakh for marrying Dalit". Financial Express. 6 December 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Love in the time of caste". The Hindu. 27 July 2013. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  5. ^ Anita Diehl. (1977). E. V. Ramaswami Periyar. A study of the influence of a personality in contemporary South India, Scandinavian University Books: Sweden. ISBN 91-24-27645-6.
  6. ^ bbc.com: India: Cash reward offered for inter-caste marriages
  7. ^ "Lawyer's Collective". Archived from the original on 10 September 2015.
  8. ^ "Infochange India". Archived from the original on 2 October 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)