SOTN: A marriage made in India, built to last

THE BONDING: As many as 87 per cent Indians feel that life is incomplete without marriage.

        

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Indians have faith in marriage; they trust their partners but they would rather have a happy divorce than a bitter marriage, says CNN-IBN’s annual State of the Nation Survey.

The survey, conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in association with CNN-IBN and DNA newspaper, found that 87 per cent Indians feel that life is incomplete without marriage. As many as 76 per cent single people in metros believe in marriage.

As many as 9 per cent people say that life can be complete without marriage; 19 per cent single people in metros have the same opinion.

As many as 48 per cent urban Indians favour divorce if a couple is incompatible, but interestingly 69 them feel marital infidelity is not the end of a marriage.

The idea of pre-marital sex has a higher acceptance among young metro men—32 per cent say it’s acceptable—and 22 per cent old small town women find it acceptable.

What does the survey tell about the Indian family? Is urban India more accepting of divorce? What is the great Indian urban family all about and what are its values?

CNN-IBN’s Anubha Bhonsle asked this on the State of the Nation debate to Pavan Kumar Varma, writer and director general of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Poornima Advani, former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, actress Yukta Mookhey and Bharatanatyam dancer Pratibha Prahlad.

Indians' faith in marriage reflects their faith in values, said Varma. “Marriage is an institution which is there to stay in any society. India needs to stand by the values. There is something called sanskar (values) and it is still alive in India though it may have been lost in the metropolises. All gods, at least in Hindu mythology, have consorts. Marriage is an ingrained concept in Indian philosophy,” he said.

Prahlad doesn’t believe that marriage is a necessity and said the ideal marriage mythology speaks about happens only when there is total commitment among the partners.