"We Want Women To Marry": Farmer's Viral Plea To DK Shivakumar

Public grievance meetings usually bring requests for roads, water and pensions. At one event in Karnataka, the ask was of a different kind: help finding a bride.

The exchange took place at a Praja Seva programme in Piriyapatna, in Mysuru district, on Saturday, 3 October. The farmer raised the issue before Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, saying men from farming communities were struggling to find brides despite owning agricultural land. A video of the moment has since gone viral.

The farmer claimed, "There are men at 35-40 years who are unable to get married and are contemplating suicide."

Shivakumar then asked, "What do you want?"

"We want women to marry. I request DK [Shivakumar] to help us. We are spending so much money, despite us having our own house and land we are not getting a bride, you need to do something, it's the question of lakhs of lives."

The farmer added, "No one is giving their daughters to a farmer who is a provider of food grains to everyone."

He suggested farmers remain unmarried because families increasingly prefer grooms with government, corporate or other salaried jobs.

The request appeared to catch Shivakumar by surprise, but the concern has already been raised in the state this year.

In February, Kunigal MLA H D Ranganath wrote to then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking special incentives for women who marry farmers.

In his letter, Ranganath, who represents Kunigal in Tumakuru district, asked the government to announce a special allowance and special status for women who marry men living in villages and dependent on farming during the upcoming Assembly session.

He said many women are unwilling to marry men engaged in agriculture, leaving many farmers unmarried even after the age of 30.