GS Paper I — Q9
Intercaste marriages between castes which have socio-economic parity have increased, to some extent, but this is less true of…
Intercaste marriages between castes which have socio-economic parity have increased, to some extent, but this is less true of interreligious marriages. Discuss. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें
समान सामाजिक-आर्थिक पक्ष वाली जातियों के बीच अंतर्जातीय विवाह कुछ हद तक बढ़े हैं, किन्तु अंतर्धार्मिक विवाहों के बारे में यह कम सच है। विवेचना कीजिए। (उत्तर 150 शब्दों में दीजिए)
Model answer
Drafted with AI by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key. How we build rubrics and answers.
Urbanisation, higher education, and corporate mobility have facilitated intercaste marriages, particularly among the urban upper-middle class sharing socio-economic parity. In these unions, matched earning capacity and lifestyle reduce parental status anxiety and dilute caste-based ritual barriers under the common umbrella of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Even so, only about 5% of Indian marriages are intercaste (IHDS-II), while interreligious marriages remain lower still, at around 2%.
Interreligious unions encounter far more rigid structural resistance:
- Religious Endogamy and Conversion Anxieties: Unlike caste, religious boundaries involve distinct scriptural injunctions, deeply entrenched endogamy, and fears of religious conversion or cultural dilution.
- Legal and Procedural Hurdles: Couples opting for the Special Marriage Act, 1954 face a 30-day public notice requirement that can invite familial backlash, though the Allahabad High Court in Safiya Sultana (2021) held that publication of the notice must be optional.
- Sociopolitical Pressures: Laws in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat regulate religious conversion linked to marriage, with the stated aim of preventing coercion; together with public controversies over alleged "love jihad", they raise the social and legal cost of Hindu–Muslim unions.
Upholding individual liberty under Article 21 requires reforming the Special Marriage Act's procedural vulnerabilities and safeguarding constitutional autonomy over community vetoes.
How this answer will be evaluated
Framework: GS1 Society: Continuity, Data, Intersectionality, Solution
What earns full marks: Distinguishes economic parity from religious identity with specific legal/social examples.
Evaluation rubric
Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.
- The answer Discuss why intercaste marriages among socio-economically equal castes have grown somewhat while interreligious marriages remain rarer. 10 marks · 150 words
discuss— intro → 3-4 dimensions → example → balanced close
Must cover
- Drivers of intercaste marriage: urbanisation, higher education, women's employment, digital matchmaking, similar class status reducing family resistance; legal ease under the Hindu Marriage Act and state incentives
- Evidence of scale: about 5% of marriages intercaste (IHDS-II), interreligious about 2%; growth concentrated in urban educated groups and among castes of similar rank
- Barriers to interreligious marriage: stronger religious endogamy, community identity and conversion anxieties, different personal laws; Special Marriage Act's 30-day notice
- Policy and legal context: state laws regulating conversion linked to marriage, Allahabad HC (Safiya Sultana, 2021) making notice publication optional, Article 21 autonomy (Hadiya, Shakti Vahini)
Loses marks
- Politically one-sided tone without evidence
- Ignoring the 'socio-economic parity' qualifier
Earns more
- Honour-crime risk and the Supreme Court's Shakti Vahini (2018) guidelines
- Dr Ambedkar Scheme for Social Integration through Inter-Caste Marriages
Extra mark
- Hypergamy and parity as a condition for acceptance
What "Discuss" is asking you to do
Lay the issue out from more than one side — how it arose, what is claimed for it, what is held against it, and where it now stands. UPSC attaches discuss to broad topics with several live dimensions, so coverage of the dimensions earns more than the strength of your opinion.
Structure that answers it
Set the issue up → the case as it is made → the case against → the dimension both sides leave out → where the balance now lies
Where marks are lost
Listing facts with no thread between them, or arguing one side throughout and calling it a discussion.
Practice this exact question
Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.
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