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With prospects of marriage diminishing among Karnataka’s bachelor farmers due to their profession and financial instability, they have now resorted to breaking traditional norms and trying innovative methods to find brides.
Bachelor farmers in Karnataka have, for the past few years, struggled to find potential partners, as women from rural parts expect their partners to have an IT or government job alongside farmland or property.
These women, mainly from rural or semi-urban areas, often move to cities for higher studies or factory jobs and do not wish to return to their roots and engage in farm work.
Conversely, their male counterparts are less educated and have no exposure to urban areas as they have traditionally confined themselves to farming. This mismatch has resulted in a shortage of potential partners for men in rural areas.
The issue is more prominent among the Vokkaliga community, where the majority of members are engaged in agriculture. This farming community has an average land ownership ranging from 5 to 25 acres or more.
Dhananjay from Begamangala in Mandya district said that men have now realised that women from their community are refusing to marry them, prompting them to break caste barriers and seek matches from other castes. “Men are reaching out to women from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other communities from Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Earlier, they strictly refused to allow any woman from outside the community,” he said.
He added that love marriages, which were not as welcome as in urban areas, are now being accepted, with villagers allowing men and women to enter relationships before marriage. “This way, the issue of profession or financial requirements becomes secondary,” he explained.
HL Yamuna, state president of Karnataka Rajya Okkaligara Vikas Vedike (R), who offers matrimony services to men from the community as part of social work, supported the claims.
“A few decades ago, the issue was prevalent among the Brahmin community as well, as women did not want to marry priests for the same financial reasons and other social aspects. But Brahmins did the same by allowing women from other castes,” she stated. Yamuna said it is the most feasible way to sustain the community.
Apart from breaking caste barriers, men have started using religious events to increase their visibility and reach out to potential matches. Yamuna mentioned that between January and May, right after the harvest season and before the beginning of the new sowing season, these farmers undertake multiple yatras.
Bachelor farmers from various villages in Mysuru, Mandya and Bengaluru districts, where the community’s population is dominant, gathered and took out a march under the banner of Akhila Karnataka Brahmacharigala Sangha. Calling it a brahmacharigalu padayatra – the march of the bachelors – a group of about 60 men marched to the Male Mahadeshwara temple, completing roughly a 120 km journey.
Shivaprasad KM, a 35-year-old bachelor farmer from Devipura in Mandya district, said that the march was organised to identify the number of such bachelors from different villages to come together and raise awareness. “The move was to highlight the issue with the government and concerned people of society and potentially offer a solution,” he said.
Yamuna noted that during other religious marches, these bachelor farmers introduce themselves in other villages looking for prospects. “Some groups or people specifically camp in those villages to have interactions with villagers,” she said.
Such efforts have received attention from political parties and other agricultural organisations. For instance, in April, soon after the Brahmacharigalu padayatra, former chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) JDS party leader HD Kumaraswamy declared that his party would offer assistance of Rs 2 lakh to women who marry sons of farmers.
In another move, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha approached the state government seeking an incentive of Rs 5 lakh for brides who agree to marry farmers. In a memorandum, the organisation also urged the government to approve a loan of Rs 25 lakh with minimal interest rates to economically support the farming couple.
Mallesha DP from Devipura village said such measures are being taken as even widowed or divorced women are seen married off within a month’s time of the event. “On a personal scale, we are ready to offer land ownership, take care of wedding expenses and even provide money up to Rs 2 lakh,” he said, adding that offering dowry could soon become a new norm.
However, Shivaprasad said that schemes from the government or a policy may help farmers. “The situation is not going to change overnight. It will take women to be more considerate and men to take steps to improve their financial conditions to reach a middle ground that is amicable for both. But it is unfair for women to outrightly blacklist men just for being farmers,” he said.