Brides on hold, lack of land records keeps 50 grooms in limbo

HUBBALLI

Galaginakatti village in Kalaghatgi Taluk has a population of about 500. Families were part of a farming society collective initiated in 1950. As the society dissolved in the year 2000, residents were supposed to get land in their names. However, it did not happen even after 25 years due to the apathy of the government. This has resulted in about 50 youths living without being wed. When women hardly show interest in getting married to farmers, no one is coming forward to marry the youths in this village. Following the trend, the student strength at the local government school is also falling.

Basavaraj Babbi, a youth, told that the village is located at the boundary of a forest. About 50 youths aged between 25-40 years are not getting any wedding proposals. It is quite natural that parents want the groom to have secure financial sources while arranging their daughter's marriage. However, though we have the required land and capacity to maintain our family, we don't possess land records. As a result, families are refusing marriage proposals of our village youth, he shared.

Elders said that the village is turning into a bachelors' den due to the govt's negligence in allotting the land. This delay has also caused some fights over ownership of the land due to absence of proper records, they said.

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Sources in the education department stated that the village has a lower primary school, where the student strength is dropping drastically year by year. As nine students passed from Class 5 in 2024-25, this year we are expecting 2-3 students for class 1. It had a total strength of about 50 a few years ago, but now it is less than 20, they revealed.