Soaring gold prices, joblessness delay marriages in Kashmir

Srinagar, Jan 30: Soaring gold prices and unemployment are altering marriage timelines in Kashmir.

The family chatter that once revolved around guest lists and bridal trousseaus now frequently turns to gold prices in Kashmir.

With a significant number of youth jobless, the meagre incomes, and the soaring gold prices are reshaping the society, and further delaying marriages.

Traditionally, summers and autumns are marked with weddings and winters and springs with engagements in Kashmir.

For generations, gold has been more than an ornament in Kashmiri weddings.

It has been a symbol of prestige and social security.

Gold ornaments are given to the bride on engagement, the Nikah ceremony, and also when she moves to her husband’s home.

Gold ornaments owned by the bride are worn on engagements and weddings.

Gold is also exchanged as gifts for the in-laws of the bride and groom.

Today, the tradition is colliding with economic reality.

Many young men and women that Greater Kashmir spoke to revealed how the lack of income and the soaring gold prices had left diminishing hopes of them getting married.

“I was supposed to get married last winter,” says Aaliya (name changed), a graduate from Budgam. “But when we started calculating the cost of gold, we realised we couldn’t afford even the basic pieces I could wear on the wedding.”

She said her family had been putting together money from their meagre resources to buy “just one light gold set”, but unsuccessfully.

Not just women, men are also finding themselves in a fix.

Unable to afford gold for gifting the bride on engagement, or weddings as dower, many families defer plans of finding a match or weddings.

Jewellers in Kashmir confirm that demand for gold has dropped.

They said that many were postponing purchases in hopes of price drops.

The local gold dealers describe markets as “practically stagnant”.

They said that some people were buying lighter designs, while others were gifting cash or clothes instead.

Last season saw a major slump in sales, reflecting the poor purchasing power in Kashmir.

While gold feels like a mountain on a wedding budget, unemployment is a larger issue, dampening wedding plans.

Stable employment is often seen as a prerequisite for marriage.

Earlier, mostly men were expected to be employed.

Now, many families prefer a woman with an income as a prospective life partner for their sons.

Although official data put J&K unemployment at around 18 percent, the actual figures of youth without jobs is much higher.

Around 58 percent youth in J&K are “self-employed”, the term translating into working as labourers in construction, agriculture, and industries.

Young Kashmiris find themselves in a fix – waiting for secure jobs before looking for a spouse.

J&K has the highest average age of marriage in India, as per data.

We also have the highest number of unmarried youth – 29 percent in the age group of 15 to 29 years.

Sociologists note that this is not just an economic shift, but a harbinger of demographic shifts. Youth in Kashmir are spending more years attempting to secure jobs before considering marriage, notes a study, ‘Perils of late marriages in Kashmir Valley.’