The inter-caste marriages in India have been gradually gaining acceptance due to increasing education, employment, middle-class economic background, and urbanisation . As of the 2011 census, 5.8% of the marriages in India were inter-caste marriages.[1] [2]
In India, inter-caste marriages were publicly encouraged and supported by the incumbent government under Narendra Modi by the offering of financial encouragement to those who marry people from lower castes,[3] C. N. Annadurai, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,[4] and social activists such as Periyar E. V. Ramasamy,[5] Raghupathi Venkataratnam Naidu and Manthena Venkata Raju. In the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the Government offers a cash award for inter-caste couples.[6] The Supreme Court of India has also declared that inter-caste marriages are in the national interest and a unifying factor for the nation[7] and there has never been a bar on inter-caste or inter-religion marriages in independent India.[8]
In 2017, the Prime minister Narendra Modi started a scheme in which 2.5 lakh, that is 250,000 rupees will be given to inter-caste couples if one of them is a Dalit.[3]
According to the 2017 Study conducted by the Indian Statistical Institute, inter-caste marriages are more frequent in Rural areas (5.2%) than Urban areas (4.9%). The Survey also found that the inter-caste marriages are more common among poor people (5.9%) than rich people (4.0%).[1]
According to the Studies conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research in 2016, about 5% of the marriages in India are inter-caste marriages. Mizoram had the highest number of inter-caste marriages, where about 55% of the marriages were inter-caste marriages and Madhya Pradesh had the lowest number of inter-caste marriages, where only 1% of the marriages were inter-caste marriage.[9]
According to a survey, the education of the husband's mother has a significant effect on inter-caste marriages. The probability of inter-caste marriages was found to increase by 36% with a 10-year increase in education of the husband's mother.[10]
In a 2010 report, the National Commission for Women (NCW) documented 326 cases of honour crime in the past year, the majority of which were due to inter-caste marriages.[11]