Arranged vs Love Marriages in India

Arrange Marriages vs. Love Marriages Survey by NDTV NDTV commissioned Ipsos, a leading market research agency, to conduct fieldwork for this opinion poll from a sample size of almost 30,000, covering as many as 125 out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats in the 18 big states. The poll was carried out in 125 constituencies spread over 18 states (these account for over 20% of the 543 Lok Sabha seats). Each Lok Sabha constituency was selected using a statistical formula based on voting patterns of 2009 Lok Sabha Elections.In each Lok Sabha constituency, two to three assembly segments were selected at random where approximately 100 interviews were conducted in homes. For the voting intention question, the respondents were given a mock ballot paper on which the symbols of the parties were set out. They were asked to mark their preference on the ballot paper and then place the ballot paper in a mock ballot box. Source: http://www. ndtv. com/article/india/ndtv-mid-term-poll-does-india-still-want-arr anged-marriages-260295 Survey by Shaadi. com In May, 2011, India’s largest Matrimonial website, â€Å"Shaadi. om†, published the results of a huge marriage based survey that they conducted with research agency IMRB. The Indian marriage survey was based on the opinions of around 150,000 users of the site in 300 Indian cities and towns. Site users, especially NRIs, from UK, US, Australia and Canada were also surveyed. 62% of the respondents were male, of these, over 50% were in the 26-35 age group. In the words of the website, the objective of this large survey was to â€Å"try and understand the psyche of an average marriage hopeful and the way matchmaking trends are changing and evolving†.Listed below are some of the key findings of the Indian marriage survey (â€Å"Shaadi Aaj Kal†). Note that since this is a survey of internet users, the respondents tend to be more tech savvy, better educated, and more urban centric than the average Indian. 1. A large nu mber of women (54%) prefer to stay in a â€Å"joint family† after marriage as against only â€Å"21%† who prefer to stay in a nuclear family. A joint family provides a support system for the married couple. Surprisingly, in a similar survey in 2004, only 40% of the women wanted to stay in a â€Å"joint family†. 2.Almost 50% of the respondents said that they would marry their partner even if they did not get along with their future in-laws. 3. 85% of the male respondents wanted their future wives to work after marriage. Since the respondents are mainly urban centric, this is not surprising; although a high figure of 85% is refreshing. 4. 69% of the women want their partner to be better educated than them, whereas only 10% of the men wanted their potential wives to be better educated than them. This does not mean the Indian male is entirely chauvinistic; 62% of the men would prefer their future wives to be as educated as them. 3% of women and 40% of men would pref er their future partner to be a postgraduate. 5. 34% of the women respondent did not mind marrying a partner who made less than them. The percentage for men was 94%. 6. 72% men prefer to marry a girl who is younger than them. 89% of women prefer to marry a man who is older than her. 7. Men (62%) prefer larger families as compared to women (38%). 70% of the women felt that raising a child is time consuming and 58% also thought that raising a child is a serious commitment. 8. Which celebrity would make the ideal father?Surprisingly, almost 40% of the respondents felt that Salman Khan, the die-hard bachelor, would make the ideal father. At second place is the other bachelor icon, Rahul Gandhi. 9. 47% married couples in India discussed their past relationship before marriage. This trend was more prevalent in East India. Bulk of these couples (66%) wanted to reveal their past relationships because they did not want it to affect their future 10. 49% of the men wanted a â€Å"fair complex ioned† bride. This is up from 41% in the 2004 survey.Women, on the other hand, are more accepting of dark skinned men, with 65% saying that the color of their husband’s skin is not important. 11. For young urban Indians caste is not as important as it used to be. 54% men and 46% of the women said caste was not an important parameter in their selection criteria. for them, finding a compatible partner is more important than finding a partner from the same caste. 12. 69% of women would prefer it if their partner worked for a private sector organization. 13. A large majority of women (90%) were willing to relocate to another country if their husband’s job required them o relocate. 14. Couples are become pragmatic about marriage. 70% of the women and 62% of the men were comfortable with the idea of pre-nuptial agreements. Census data for Indian Marriages: http://censusindia. gov. in/Census_Data_2001/Census_data_finder/C_Series/Age_at_marriage. htm Survey by ZEE NEWS T he survey of women in the age group of 20-30 carried out in various cities, including the four metros, by leading matrimony portal Bharatmatrimony, also revealed that 59% of the respondents consider parent's decision the most important priority in finalising marriage.Only 20% of the respondents felt that profession was the most important aspect in finalising their life partner while ten% said caste was the most important priority and 11% said family nuclear or joint family – was the most preferred. About 49% preferred arranged marriage while 33 per cent ‘arranged love marriage' and a meagre 18% of the respondents favoured ‘love' marriage. The survey titled â€Å"Woman and Marriage† was conducted by ahead of the Women's Day and 1,058 respondents were covered in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Madurai, Mysore, Tiruchirappalli, Coimbatore and Jaipur, a release said here today.On the right age for a woman to get married, about 71 pe r cent said 21-24 was the ideal age for marriage. Interestingly, the survey said that about 93% of women were interested to study or work after marriage. The survey also said that about 55% women prefer to search life partners through contacts via friends and relatives. Source: http://mm. bharatmatrimony. com/featured-story/527-bharatmatrimony-exclusive-parents-day-survey Survey by Bharat Matrinomy Young Indians believe their parents wouldn’t mind taking a backseat when it comes to their marriage decisions! 66% of Indian parents believe that their children will not tie the knot with a partner not ‘blessed' by them.  ·83% believe that online matrimony gives them more choices and selection in partner search.  ·Amitabh Bachchan & Jaya Bachchan were the most famous Bollywood couple in India, followed by Kajol & Ajay Devgan. The winds of change are indeed sweeping the institution of matrimony in India. Parents as well as unmarried men and women are being influenced by th ese changes, a comprehensive Parents Day online survey involving more than 15400 members of BharatMatrimony has revealed.The findings of the survey conducted by BharatMatrimony to commemorate Parents Day on July 24th this year and released to the media today offered interesting insights, trends and rare nuggets of information about how the youth regard marriages and the role of parents with respect to important marital decisions. When asked whether the views of Indian parents are changing today, 67% of the unmarried respondents said yes and only 13% disagreed while the remaining said neither yes nor no. Yet another change in attitudes was the growing trust in online matrimony.Nearly 83% believed that online matrimony gave them more choices and selection when it came to partner search. Nearly 67% also believed that online matrimony empowered women to make their own choices in marriages. In fact, 47% also felt that marriages arranged through matrimony websites had the same success rat e as traditional arranged marriages. Mr Murugavel Janakiraman, Founder-CEO, BharatMatrimony, commented: â€Å"While the surveys have revealed useful nuggets of information and insights into marriages and its changing facets, people in India continue to see marriage as a sacred bonding where parents have a very special role to play.It is best performed with the blessings of parents, an overwhelming majority feel. However, the survey also proved that more and more unmarried people along with their parents believed in the convenience and wide selection of partners provided by Online matrimony. The new ways of thinking have not diluted the traditional respect and sanctity accorded to marriages in general. † Confirming the special bonding Indians have with their parents, an overwhelming 90% of the unmarried who took part in the survey believed in getting married with the blessings of their parents.About 57% also said that they would not go ahead and marry a person of their choice against the wishes of their parents. 20% however said that they would go ahead despite parental opposition. Nearly 35% said that their parents would be ok with any choice they made; 40% said that their parents would be ok if it was within their religion; only 17 % said that their parents would insist on finding a match for them. Interestingly, 59% thought that a marriage arranged by the parents was better because of their experience.Nearly 76% of the parents who took part in the survey believed that their children would get married only with their blessings. 66% of the parents felt that marriages arranged by them would prove more successful as they had more experience! Again, a similar percentage of parents believed that their children would not disregard their advice and tie the knot with someone they didn't approve of. About 16% of the parents believed that they wouldn't be able to influence marriage decisions! When asked, ‘what do you think are your views on marriage? 20% o f the parents said that they would be ok with any choice made by their children; 23 per cent were also ok with the idea if the partner belonged to the same religion. However 23% insisted that important decisions like this were better left to them. 33% preferred to play a supporting role only, whatever be the decision. At the same time, 76% of the parents who took part in the survey believed that in general the views of Indian parents on marriages of their children were changing. Source: http://mm. bharatmatrimony. com/featured-story/527-bharatmatrimony-exclusive-parents-day-survey