DROUGHT IN INDIA is changing the way marriages are arranged: Men seeking wives are paying large fees to traffickers while wives seeking husbands are being made promises and getting duped into marriages. According to the article “No Water, No Wife: How Climate Change is Linked to Trafficking” (Freedom United, August 5, 2019), wells and other sources of water have dried up, forcing people to walk miles for water in India.
Parents are rejecting would-be suitors for their daughters, fearing that allowing their daughter to marry men from dry areas will land her in financial ruin. One eligible, 42-year-old farm laborer said, “The parents usually tell me ‘no water, no daughter. Parents fear their girls will spend the rest of their days fetching water.”
The drought has caused a rise in suicides among farmers over failed crops. These suicides have left the farmers’ widows and their “drought orphans” with crippling debt. These women then fall prey to traffickers looking to push them into prostitution. “And with so many men desperately seeking wives, traffickers find opportunities to lure prospective brides into the region from other states.”
To read the complete article, click here.
The photo at the top is one of six photos from “Drought bleeds South India dry: No water for fish, birds or fishermen.” (The New Indian Express, February 27, 2017).
In India, parents are rejecting suitors for their daughters, fearing that allowing their daughter to marry men from dry areas will land her in financial ruin. Click To Tweet
Cartoon by Cam Cardow for Cagle Cartoons.
