9 lakh men still single and waiting in Gujarat

AHEMDABAD: Ramesh Patel, 34, a single farmer in Porbandar, hopes against hope that some day he will find a bride.

"Girls do not want to get married in villages, especially in

Saurashtra

. We found one match but the family insisted I move to Porbandar town. Since I am the only son of my parents and responsible for looking after family agriculture, I expressed inability to shift out. The girl rejected me," laments Patel. In

Gujarat

, reeling under skewed sex ratio, there are lakhs of bachelors like Patel waiting for a bride. Census 2011 data revealed that there are 11.83 lakh unmarried youth in 25-34 age group out of which 9.16 lakh are men and 2.67 lakh women.

This effectively means that for every two unmarried women, there are seven unmarried men in 25-34 age group. In all, there are 17.75 lakh unmarried men and women over 25 years of age in Gujarat.

The numbers appear to be a direct manifestation of declining child sex ratio which saw a significant fall from 947 girls per 1,000 boys in 1981 to 886 in 2011. The

CSR

had dropped to 928 in 1991 and 883 in 2001 before marginally recovering in 2011.

Data further reveals that Porbandar has highest single men and women (7.48% of total district population over 25 years of age) followed by Navsari (7.22%), Junagadh (6.75%), Bharuch (6.61%) and Ahmedabad (6.93%).

Sociologist

Gaurang Jani

says multiple factors the issue is multifold. "Skewed sex ratio which has triggered a serious social imbalance is a key factor where many villages in affected districts record hundreds of ageing bachelors desperate for a bride.

In several communities, girls are more educated than boys and reject uneducated youths. In the past decade, there is also a trend of late marriage."


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