Brides from Orphanages in Gujarat

Starved of brides, Patels turn to orphanages

AHMEDABAD: Having spent all her life in an orphanage, Sonal (24) was elated when a moneyed man from a Patel family in rural Mehsana asked her hand in marriage. Haresh (32) was an arts graduate running a fertilizer business in his village.

"The boy's family was looking for a bride in Mehsana but no educated girl was ready to settle in a village. The only option was to buy a tribal bride, a prevalent practice in the community suffering from a skewed sex ratio, which they wished to avoid," says Vijay Pandit, trustee superintendent of Mahipatram Roopram (MR) Ashram, an orphanage.

Because of her dark complexion, another orphan Seeta Solanki (23) believed she would never find a suitable match. But she has married into a rich Patel household in Banaskantha. Although this is good for the orphaned girls, it is also another manifestation of Gujarat's skewed sex ratio of just 886 girls per 1,000 boys. Worst hit by the skewed ratio, Patel families in Mehsana, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Saurashtra are bringing home orphan girls.

Such is the demand now that MR Ashram does not have a girl of marriageable age left while there is a waiting list of prospective grooms. "We had 50 grown up girls all of whom have now been married in the past 10 years. Thirty-five of these have been married into Patel households," says Dina Patel, social worker in-charge of adult girls.

"Many families come with details of large tracts of land they own and plead with us to find them a bride but we have none to offer them at present," says social worker Jayshree Dudhela.

Surat's Women's Home has over 100 pending applications for marriage from grooms-to-be. "Around 75% are from the Patel community in Saurashtra," says Parvati Patel, superintendent of the home.

Chairperson of Women's Protection Home at Vadodara Rita Manjrawala says, "Many of the men who approach us insist they are not marrying an orphan girl out of desperation, but the truth is they have come to us because there are no girls left in their community."

(Inputs from Sachin Sharma in Vadodara and Yagnesh Mehta in Surat)

Source : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-11-14/ahmedabad/44072709_1_protection-home-mehsana-banaskantha The News is by Radha Sharma of TNN.