Thidanadu: The 'matchmaker panchayat' of Kerala

Are you struggling hard to find a suitable partner but not interested to avail the service of matrimonial websites paying high subscription fee? Don't worry as you have a solution for this right now, as a nondescript village panchayat in Kerala is now offering 'credible' matchmaking service that too free of cost to help unmarried people and widows to find suitable partners from across the state.

Among the host of other services, the authorities of the ruling CPI(M)-controlled Thidanadu Panchayat here came up with an innovative matchmaking service for common people, after taking serious note of the increasing number of single youths and widows in their area. The service would be credible and the privacy of the registered persons would be protected, they said.

A "marriage diary", a registry, was opened by the civic body to help interested persons, who are worried about their delayed marriages or broken relationships, to find life partners cutting across age, caste, religion, gender and economic barriers. People from any panchayat in the southern state could register in the 'diary' and the response of the general public was overwhelming as a total of 2,500 people have already been registered since its launch just four days ago, a panchayat member said.

Natives of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Idukki, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts were among those who have registered in the programme seeking life partners, Sherin Perumakkunnel, who co-ordinates the matchmaking programme, said. Also, the president of the health and education standing committees of the panchayat, Perumakkunel said the registration is being done after sending a google form to the interested parties via social media platforms.

After filling the application form which includes all the necessary personal and family details, they can submit it online to the panchayat which would verify its authenticity thoroughly and try to find suitable partners for the applicants. "The profiles will be shared with authorities of other local bodies who have expressed interest to co-operate with us in the initiative. The privacy of the applications will be protected. To ensure that, we will use their personal email IDs only for further communication," Perumakkunnel told PTI.

Though the project was officially launched only four days ago, wedding bells may soon ring for a couple, who have registered in the ''marriage diary," he said. "A man from Kottayam and a woman hailing from Idukki, registered in our marriage diary, liked their each other's profile. Now discussions between the two families are going on. We can not predict the outcome right now but if everything is ok, the first marriage through our matchmaking will be a reality soon," the member said.

If it becomes a reality, the panchayat would like to bring LSGD minister Govindan Master to solemnise the wedding and bless the couple, he added. A recent sample survey, conducted by the panchayat among its people, had paved way for the innovative initiative. It was found in the survey that the number of unmarried men, despite crossing the conventional marriageable age, was very high in Thidanadu panchayat. There were also women whose marriage had been delayed for many reasons and those who had become widow at a young age in the panchayat, as per the survey. "We hope, our registry will help them find suitable life partners as they wish," the member added.

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