<p>In a state where getting a bride is getting tougher by the day and bachelors are scouting for prospective brides in other states, the “save-girl” campaign would be carried out by about 10,000 bachelors. <br /><br />Christened as “Kunware Dulhe” (bachelor grooms), they would convey their message targeted at the nefarious practice of female foeticide by travelling across more than 6,600 villages in the state.<br /><br />“Street plays will be used to explain the emerging societal challenge manifesting in the shortfall of girls of marriageable age in virtually every village of the state,” says Shyam Sunder, secretary of the Red Cross Society, Bhiwani, who has spearheaded the campaign.<br /><br />There are 854 girls for every 1,000 boys born in the state where societal mindset for male preference is wreaking havoc on the demographic patterns. It has resulted in a situation where youths of marriageable age in the state’s villages are finding it hard to get brides. <br />The problem gets accentuated for those without any land, property or a stable job. <br /><br />“There is already a spectacle of Haryana youths going to as far as Kerala, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar to fetch brides by paying hefty amounts,” says Shyam Sunder. The trafficking of girls for marriage is slowly emerging as an industry in the state with a nexus of middlemen.</p>
<p>In a state where getting a bride is getting tougher by the day and bachelors are scouting for prospective brides in other states, the “save-girl” campaign would be carried out by about 10,000 bachelors. <br /><br />Christened as “Kunware Dulhe” (bachelor grooms), they would convey their message targeted at the nefarious practice of female foeticide by travelling across more than 6,600 villages in the state.<br /><br />“Street plays will be used to explain the emerging societal challenge manifesting in the shortfall of girls of marriageable age in virtually every village of the state,” says Shyam Sunder, secretary of the Red Cross Society, Bhiwani, who has spearheaded the campaign.<br /><br />There are 854 girls for every 1,000 boys born in the state where societal mindset for male preference is wreaking havoc on the demographic patterns. It has resulted in a situation where youths of marriageable age in the state’s villages are finding it hard to get brides. <br />The problem gets accentuated for those without any land, property or a stable job. <br /><br />“There is already a spectacle of Haryana youths going to as far as Kerala, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar to fetch brides by paying hefty amounts,” says Shyam Sunder. The trafficking of girls for marriage is slowly emerging as an industry in the state with a nexus of middlemen.</p>
