During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, the parents of Jaya Shukla*, a 16-year-old girl in Naubatpur in Patna district, received a proposal for her marriage.
The prospective groom’s family, in dire need of money, wanted only Rs 30,000 – much less than the typical dowry demand. With lockdown restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Shuklas would not have to host a large number of wedding guests either, evading the need to borrow up to Rs 60,000 from moneylenders at 15% interest.
Due to these perceived savings, they decided to get both Jaya and her 15-year-old sister Rani, who received a proposal shortly after Jaya, married in the same ceremony.
“We do not want to miss such a good proposal in such trying times,” said their mother, Varsha.
The Shuklas are daily-wage agricultural labourers who lost all work during the lockdown. Even now, their work and income are not at pre-pandemic levels. Like many parents, the Shuklas believed marriage would…