When will this change

IBNLive.com : CNN-IBN – dated 28th november

In some parts of India, marriage into a good family is the ultimate social symbol – even if it’s at the cost of penury.

Baleshwar Paswan lives in Bihar’s Vaishali district. Till a few years ago, he was a powerful man, a local MLA of the area.

Now, however, he is left with just three
acres of land on which his family just manages to survive. So what
happened in these intervening years?

Paswan says his only achievement till date
has been the marriage of his two daughters into repsectable families -
but that he is still paying the price of his daughters’ weddings for he
has spent all his life’s savings on meeting his married daughters’
demands.

“I have to take care of my daughters and
make sure that they are happy. I till land now because I have to feed
my family,” says he.

Marriage is the ultimate status symbol in
these parts of India. If one has a daughter at home, she must be
married, and that too, into a good family.

In securing this psychological and social ambition, Baleshwar Paswan has almost become a beggar.

If I don’t till this land, then how will my family survive? I do this so that I can feed my family,” says he.

For some Indian families, marriages are a one way ticket to a life time of poverty.

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