prasad1
Active member
Even though India still boasts of that nearly hundred percent of the marriages are a success, rapid urbanization and awareness of various rights are now instigating the divorce rate to shoot up. Empowerment of women has initiated the dissolution of marriage in urban areas as financially educated women are now open to the option of ending the relationship rather than to bear life long abuses silently. The campaigns on gender equality are now giving rise to ego clashes between the husband and wife, especially if the wife too is the bread earner of the family.
A survey states that over the past four years the divorce rate in Delhi, the capital city of India has almost doubled and is projected to be 12000 by the year 2008. In 2006, Bangalore, the IT hub of India it was recorded that 1,246 cases of divorce were filed in the court that pertain to the IT sector exclusively. It has been estimated Mumbai has shot up to 4,138 in 2007 while cities that are acknowledged for their cultural richness and social values like Kolkata and Chennai, are no less behind. Agro based states like Punjab and Haryana are now seeing an increase of 150% of divorce rate since the last decade. Kerala, known to be the most literate state has experienced an increase of divorce rate by 350% in the last 10 years.
In the 1980s, New Delhi had two courts that dealt with divorce. Today there are 16. A new Indian matchmaking website Secondshaadi.com, or second marriage, now targets divorcees and widowers. A search on it throws up thousands of divorcees, most in the 25-to-35 age bracket.
Still, family courts here remain geared toward persuading couples to work it out. A watercolor of a happy family hangs behind the chair of Judge Deepa Sharma, who urges nearly every couple to visit the court's in-house marriage counselor.
"Our main thrust is to unite parties," she says. "We try to explain to them what the consequences of divorce are."
Indians spend enormous amounts of money on marriages, most of which are still arranged between families. Finding the right home for a son or daughter is a matter of great family prestige. Ending a marriage is often not just about a couple going their separate ways but of two families, sometimes with business or political ties, disentangling themselves.
The shame of a divorced son or daughter also makes it harder for parents to find suitable matches for other children.
But that is changing too. "There still isn't complete acceptance of divorce but increasingly families feel that there isn't enough dishonor if your daughter is being mistreated," says Geeta Luthra, a senior divorce lawyer in the Indian capital.
Perhaps in response to such social churn, the federal government is considering a law that allows couples to end their marriage citing "irretrievable breakdown." While it's not clear when or if Parliament will pass the legislation, it's a definite breakaway from the current, more stringent, divorce laws, guided by religious family law.
Divorce in India is difficult for Hindus as legal process has not evolved.
A survey states that over the past four years the divorce rate in Delhi, the capital city of India has almost doubled and is projected to be 12000 by the year 2008. In 2006, Bangalore, the IT hub of India it was recorded that 1,246 cases of divorce were filed in the court that pertain to the IT sector exclusively. It has been estimated Mumbai has shot up to 4,138 in 2007 while cities that are acknowledged for their cultural richness and social values like Kolkata and Chennai, are no less behind. Agro based states like Punjab and Haryana are now seeing an increase of 150% of divorce rate since the last decade. Kerala, known to be the most literate state has experienced an increase of divorce rate by 350% in the last 10 years.
In the 1980s, New Delhi had two courts that dealt with divorce. Today there are 16. A new Indian matchmaking website Secondshaadi.com, or second marriage, now targets divorcees and widowers. A search on it throws up thousands of divorcees, most in the 25-to-35 age bracket.
Still, family courts here remain geared toward persuading couples to work it out. A watercolor of a happy family hangs behind the chair of Judge Deepa Sharma, who urges nearly every couple to visit the court's in-house marriage counselor.
"Our main thrust is to unite parties," she says. "We try to explain to them what the consequences of divorce are."
Indians spend enormous amounts of money on marriages, most of which are still arranged between families. Finding the right home for a son or daughter is a matter of great family prestige. Ending a marriage is often not just about a couple going their separate ways but of two families, sometimes with business or political ties, disentangling themselves.
The shame of a divorced son or daughter also makes it harder for parents to find suitable matches for other children.
But that is changing too. "There still isn't complete acceptance of divorce but increasingly families feel that there isn't enough dishonor if your daughter is being mistreated," says Geeta Luthra, a senior divorce lawyer in the Indian capital.
Perhaps in response to such social churn, the federal government is considering a law that allows couples to end their marriage citing "irretrievable breakdown." While it's not clear when or if Parliament will pass the legislation, it's a definite breakaway from the current, more stringent, divorce laws, guided by religious family law.
Divorce in India is difficult for Hindus as legal process has not evolved.
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