Due to longstanding cultural norms,

inter-caste marriage Intercaste marriage (ICM), also known as marrying out of caste, is a form of exogamous nuptial union that involve two individuals belonging to different castes. Intercaste marriages are particularly perceived as socially unacceptable and taboo in mo ...

s in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

remains a rare occurrence, but in the modern era has been permissible in certain sections of Indian society due to modernisation and urbanisation. According to the 2011 census, only 5.8% of the marriages in India are inter-caste marriages. In India, inter-caste marriages were publicly encouraged and supported by the incumbent government under

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

by the offering of financial encouragement to those who marry people from lower castes,

C. N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna also known as Arignar Anna or Perarignar Anna (''Anna, the scholar'' or ''Elder Brother''), was an Indian Tamil politician who served as the fo ...

, the former Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, and social activists such as

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'Fa ...

,Anita Diehl. (1977). E. V. Ramaswami Periyar. ''A study of the influence of a personality in contemporary South India'', Scandinavian University Books: Sweden. .

Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu Dewan Bahadur Sir Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu (1 October 1862 – 26 May 1939) was an Indian social reformer who hailed from Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh in India. His father Appayya Nayadu worked as a subedar in Madras Army. Their forefathe ...

and

Manthena Venkata Raju Manthena Venkata Raju (1904–1968) was an Indian politician and social worker from Manthenavaripalem, Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh. He participated in the non-violent resistance against the British rule in India. Freedom Fighter In 1921, at the ...

. In the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the Government offers a cash award for inter-caste couples. The Supreme Court of India has also declared that inter-caste marriages are in the national interest and a unifying factor for the nation and there has never been an official ban on inter-caste or inter-religion marriages in independent India. In 2017, the Prime minister

started a scheme in which 2.5

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

rupees will be given to inter-caste couples if one of them is a

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

Statistics and surveys

According to the 2017 Study conducted by the Indian Statistical Institute, inter-caste marriages are more frequent in Rural areas (5.2%) than Urban areas (4.9%). The Survey also found that the inter-caste marriages are more common among poor people (5.9%) than rich people (4.0%). According to the Studies conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 2016, about 5% of the marriages in India are inter-caste marriages.

Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...

had the highest number of inter-caste marriages, where about 55% of the marriages were inter-caste marriages and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

had the lowest number of inter-caste marriages, where only 1% of the marriages were inter-caste marriage. According to a survey, the education of the husband's mother has a significant effect on inter-caste marriages. The probability of inter-caste marriages was found to increase by 36% with a 10-year increase in education of the husband's mother. In a 2010 report, the

National Commission for Women The National Commission for Women (NCW) is the statutory body of the Government of India, generally concerned with advising the government on all policy matters affecting women. It was established on 31 January 1992 under the provisions of the I ...

(NCW) documented 326 cases of honour crime in the past year, the majority of which were due to

References

External links

Inter-caste marriages the way forward to reduce communal tensions: Supreme Court
{{Types of marriages, state=autocollapse Marriage in India Caste system in India Morganatic marriage

Statistics and surveys

See also

References

External links