Trends and Differentials in Age at First Marriage by Caste in India -- Factors Promoting Child Marriages of Girls

The institution of marriage is undergoing a rapid change globally with the change in societal value system. This change is viewed in some quarters a sign of modernity. Marriages once considered to be universal in the countries of Asia are no longer true in some parts and/or in some sections of the society in this region. In a few countries of the Middle East, however, increasing numbers of both women and men are choosing ‘never to marry at all’. To remain spinster throughout life may be voluntary among those having high career aspirations but in many cases this is due to social and economic compulsions (Saxena et al., 2004). In other parts of Asia too, the number of persons never married is continuously on rise. Nevertheless, the hypothesis of universality of marriages in India is still tenable. According to the Census of India, 1991 and 2001, the percentages of women remaining single in the age group 45-49 were only 0.73 and 0.90, respectively with a little higher in metropolises and other urban areas. The pattern is similar even from large scale population based surveys. In 2010, 1.1 percent of urban women in the age group 45-49 was never married (Office of the Registrar General India, 2012). Though, the change in the percentage never married women during last decade was extremely low as compared to some Western countries, but it certainly indicated the sign of an increasing trend in India. Urban areas seem to have contributed relatively more towards this change. But in a hetero-cultural society as that of India, it may also be of interest to know which caste groups 1 of the population have been more susceptible to this change?