research on inter caste marriage

Crossing Caste Boundaries in the Modern Indian Marriage Market

• Published: 08 May 2015
• Volume 51 , pages 365–387, ( 2016 )

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• Amit Ahuja 1 &
• Susan L. Ostermann 2  

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Though caste remains a major social cleavage and a source of social exclusion in India, three factors now rise against it: a diversifying middle class, urbanization, and a demographic youth bulge. While conventional wisdom suggests that Indians marry within their own caste, we find that in the urban, middle-class marriage market, which increasingly includes members of lower castes, openness to intercaste marriage is substantial and varies within and across groups. Why are some more open to intercaste marriage? Drawing on a semi-experimental study of 1070 marriage market participants belonging to both Scheduled and upper castes, we argue that interest in intercaste marriage is rooted in a desire for upward mobility and governed by the principle of exchange. Those who can benefit from an exchange and who have high class or caste status to offer are more likely to express an interest in intermarriage. Among Scheduled Caste individuals, interest in intermarriage increases with income, while among upper caste individuals the opposite is true. We also find that the Scheduled Caste groups in our study are more interested in intermarriage than the upper caste ones. Increasing openness to intermarriage – particularly when upper castes are willing to marry lower (backward and Scheduled) castes – is a sign of social inclusion in urban India.

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Yan Wei & Li Zhang

The Demise of Mixed Marriage?

This data was provided by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, India.

This data was collected by one of the authors, Susan L. Ostermann, and her colleague Nafisa Akbar; we refer to it as the Akbar-Ostermann Dataset.

Matchmaking patterns have shifted in urban, middle-class India. For centuries, people in South Asia have relied mostly on marriage brokers and kinship networks to find marriage partners. Today, urban middle-class Indians cast a much wider net; they also turn to newspaper ads and matrimonial websites to find marriage partners.

As we elucidate further in the paper, we chose to focus on women because women, unlike men, take on their husbands’ castes when they marry.

The term “Scheduled Castes” is a proper noun and takes its name from a list or schedule of untouchable castes once included in the British colonial census. This group of people is also variably named as Dalits, Adi-Shudras, untouchables, or outcastes. The term “upper castes” is not a proper noun but rather an informal grouping across caste categories and is thus not routinely capitalized in the same fashion as Scheduled Castes.

For the purpose of this study, varna refers to “a broad caste category” and jati refers to “a subcaste.” The Hindu social order is comprised of five caste categories ranked on a declining scale of ritual purity. The upper castes, the top-ranked categories, consist of the Brahmins (priests), the Kshatriyas (warriors), and the Vaishas (traders). Shudras (peasants) and Adi - Shudras (untouchables) are commonly grouped as lower castes, with the former frequently referred to as backward castes and the later as Scheduled Castes. Scheduled Caste individuals were classified as untouchable based on their hereditary occupations that included ritually polluting tasks like leather processing, barbering, sweeping, and some funerary functions. Untouchability was outlawed in the Indian Constitution adopted in 1950. Many individuals do not perform their hereditary caste occupations.

Our semi-experimental design allows us to confirm a link between interest in intermarriage and an individual's group rank and class endowments. The aim of the design was not to establish the actual magnitude of this interest.

We call both of these “status endowments” because they matter a great deal for one’s prospects in the world, how people judge one’s position in society, and because one is typically born with them. In India, caste is one form of status endowment, while socioeconomic status or class is another form of status endowment. Though there was traditionally and is still quite a bit of overlap between these two status endowments, they are currently not perfectly correlated; there are numerous people who are upper caste, but from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds and vice versa.

We view caste as ethnicity following Chandra and Wilkinson ( 2008 ).

See Mendelsohn and Vicziany 1998 ; Weiner 2001 ; Viswanathan 2005 ; Deshpande 2011 .

According to Barth ( 1969 ), it is “the ethnic boundary that defines the group, not the cultural stuff that it encloses." The cultural practices and behavior of a group are often a function of ecological conditions and have little to do with group identity. See Chandra ( 2006 ).

See Pai 2002 ; Jaffrelot 2003 , 2013 ; Chandra 2004 .

See Frøystad 2005 .

See the second round of the India Human Development Survey for 2011-2012.

According to a widespread tradition, women are vested with honor by their families and communities; a woman’s sexual behavior then has broad ramifications. By marrying into a lower caste, a woman can be said to bring dishonor to her family and/or community, a shame that can only be remedied through her death.

In over 80 percent of these cases, the woman’s family was implicated in the crime.

See Pande 2003 ; Prakash 2009 ; Hnatkovska et al. 2013 .

See Galanter 1984 .

See Jaffrelot and Kumar 2009 .

See Hnatkovska and Lahiri 2012 ; Hnatkovska et al. 2013 . Research based on the Indian National Election Studies data finds that members of the lower castes have experienced some upward mobility over time, however, the Scheduled Castes have lagged behind significantly as compared to upper castes (Kumar et al. 2002a , b ; McMillan 2005 ; Vaid and Heath Anthony 2010 ; Vaid 2012 ).

According to the National Council for Applied Economic Research's (NCAER) Centre for Macro Consumer Research report, by 2015-16, India will be a country of 53.3 million middle-class households, translating into 267 million people falling in the category. As per the study, which uses 'household income' as the criterion, a family with an annual income between INR 3.4 lakh to INR 17 lakh (USD 6,000 to 28,000), at 2009-10 price levels, falls in the middle-class category (Kaur and Palriwala 2014 ). Our study participants, for the most part, hold a college degree, reside in urban areas, have access to the Internet, and report an annual family income of at least INR 200,000 or USD 4,000. Below this annual income level, an individual was exempt from paying income tax in India in 2011-12. For a wide-ranging discussion on the modern Indian middle class, see Baviskar and Ray ( 2011 ).

Matrimonial advertisements in newspapers and membership on matrimonial websites are expensive and are typically beyond the reach of low-income Indian families.

Together the lower castes (backward castes and Scheduled Castes) make up approximately 60 percent of the Indian population.

See Sankhe et al. ( 2010 ).

Srinivas called this process of mimicking the upper castes’ practices by upwardly mobile lower castes as “Sanskritization.”

See Newport (2013) .

Membership on such websites costs up to hundred dollars for a six-month package and compares favorably with newspaper ads, many of which cost as much as USD 75 for three weekend appearances.

See the essays by Sharangpani ( 2010 ); Titzmann ( 2011 ); Poonam ( 2012 ); Titzmann ( 2013 ); Choudhary et al. ( 2013 ); Kaur and Palriwala ( 2014 ) on the growing role of matrimonial websites. According to Trivedi (2014) there are more than 20 million users of more than 150 matrimonial websites in India.

We chose to conduct this study on online platforms instead of responding to newspaper ads because the latter medium did not provide us with standardized information on respondents and their families. Online platforms require members to provide more complete information on themselves and their backgrounds.

These three states are among India’s largest and boast distinct cultural and linguistic identities. Historically, both Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have been home to strong anti-caste social movements. In Uttar Pradesh a serious challenge to the caste system appeared later in the form of lower-caste political parties.

This range was even smaller with a set of groom profiles for a particular state. For example, for all three profiles in the Northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the men were 27 years old, had an annual income between 9.5 and 9.75 lakhs, were 5.9 inches tall, and belonged to a family of a senior civil servant. However, while these grooms are above average on most attributes, they are by no means among the best grooms present in the market. For example, on groom’s income, a highly valued attribute, incomes in the same age-bracket went as high as 3.5 million rupees per year.

Instead of using false résumés, a common practice in labor market studies, the study generated data by working with actual prospective brides and grooms. Overall, nine potential grooms were identified, three in each of the three states. No pictures of the grooms were made available to the participants when contacting them with an expression of interest. This allowed us to make sure that nine profiles used in the study were almost identical across all the parameters revealed in their profiles. Introduction of a picture would contaminate the study and takeaway an important control related to beauty. Moreover, the absence of pictures is not at all unusual since in many matrimonial searches, pictures are only exchanged once initial mutual interest has been established.

Our women respondents were contacted by our grooms through a message of interest—one that most women would consider to indicate a willingness to further explore a possible relationship. This message was standardized and, among other attributes, prominently displayed the caste of the individual expressing interest.

Typically, each individual who registers with a matrimonial website receives many expressions of interest. As a result, our profiles were just three of many other expressions of interest. In order to avoid any bias arising out of the order in which ads were received, we randomized different components of the process of expressing interest. Sometimes our Scheduled Caste groom was the first to express interest, while other times, it was an upper caste groom who first initiated contact. Our grooms also sent their expressions of interest at different times in the week and different times of the day. Finally, no individual received expressions of interest from all three of our grooms at the same time.

We checked for bias in the response rate and we did not find a statistically significant difference in the rates at which upper caste and Scheduled Caste individuals responded, or failed to respond, to our expressions of interest.

An inclusive list of all subcastes or jatis in our sample is as follows. Upper castes: Brahmin, Agarwal, Kshatriya, Kayastha, Rajput, Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu, and Pillai; Scheduled Castes: Mahar, Chambar, Matang, Chamar, Jullaha, Nai, Khatik, Kori, Balmiki, Nishad, Dhobi, Ravidass, Devendra Kula Vellalar, Arunthathiyar, and Adi-Dravida.

We also collected data on the profession of the women, but decided not to code and analyze this data. We did so in part because our qualitative research indicated that education and socioeconomic status—but not profession—were important parameters by which grooms consider prospective brides; unsurprisingly, these were the same bases upon which brides try to impress prospective grooms. We also reasoned that profession is, in many ways, redundant to educational background and socioeconomic status.

These interviews were conducted by the authors themselves and this sample was not drawn from participants in the semi-experimental portion of this study.

These interviews were conducted in Delhi, Lucknow, Chennai, Nagpur, and Mumbai. None of the participants were a part of our semi-experimental study. We interviewed 8 men and 33 women. Among our subjects, 18 were upper caste and 23 were Scheduled Caste.

Such deception would have also undermined the credibility of a major matrimonial agency of the type with which we worked.

Based on our own experience of how sensitive the topic of intercaste marriage was with interview subjects, we think that the instances of intermarriage are underreported to surveyors in rural and urban India. Respondents are likely to be wary of revealing a potentially controversial detail such as this to a stranger visiting their homes.

It is difficult to rank the backward caste jatis since the state does not collect caste-wise data on income or welfare indicators. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are the only exceptions to this practice.

While this type of behavior does not indicate that an individual will go on to marry someone of a different caste and we collected no data on this outcome, in India, where caste boundaries have been reported to be strong, willingness to entertain marriage prospects from individuals in different castes represents a significant and consequential outcome.

We coded education in this way under the basic and warranted assumption that in the Indian marriage market education is typically valued in this basic rank ordering.

The lower-middle income category was defined as an annual family income of less than 2 lakhs, the middle-income category ranged 2-5 lakhs, and the upper-middle-income category was defined as above 5 lakhs. Each of these coding brackets was self-reported by participants and then verified using participants’ reported income/assets. Participants have strong incentives to report their socioeconomic status honestly to potential grooms, as misreporting is likely to be discovered eventually and punished harshly. As a result, we only recoded approximately 10 percent of participants’ self-reported socioeconomic statuses. In almost all of these recoding cases, participants had underreported their income/assets.

For a table of other descriptive statistics, see Table  3 in the Appendix.

For more information on our sample, please see Table  3 in the Appendix.

Kaur & Dhanda (2014) report that men far outnumber women on matrimonial websites, so it is unlikely that our Scheduled Caste women participants face a shortage of Scheduled Caste grooms.

These are the largest and most socioeconomically well off Scheduled Castes in their respective states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

All three jatis were over 50 percent of their respective state sample.

Krishna ( 2006 )—through research conducted in two Indian states, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan—discovers a new generation of local Schedule Caste leaders. These local political entrepreneurs, who Krishna calls “Naya Netas” (new leaders) have developed a following not only among members of their own community, but, importantly, also among members of communities ranked higher than the Scheduled Castes. Along similar lines, in a study conducted in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Kapur et al. ( 2010 ) find that with a rise in rural Scheduled Castes’ standard of living, members of this caste category are reporting better treatment at the hands of groups that have traditionally dominated them.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the helpful comments of Pradeep Chhibber, Ashutosh Varshney, Jane Menon, Allen Hicken, Irfan Nooruddin, Heather Stoll, Aashish Mehta, Kate Bruhn, Maria Charles, M. Kent Jennings, Pei-te Lien, Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Cynthia Kaplan, Radhika Gupta, Rosario Aguilar, Francesca Refsum Jensenius, Nafisa Akbar, Adnan Naseemullah, Rahul Verma, Vasundhara Sirnate, Natasha Bennett, Geoff Allen, Arudra Burra, Reetika Khera, Ravinder Kaur, Harpreet Mangat, two anonymous reviewers, and participants in the Identity Focus Group at UC – Santa Barbara, the South Asia Colloquium at UC – Berkeley, the Political Economy Seminar at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, and the Social Science Seminar at IIT – Delhi. We want to acknowledge Aparna Wilson, Nanor Balabanian, Lyla Sultan, and Surabhi Seth for their research assistance, and Stuart Pilorz and Inga Schmoldt for their editorial assistance as well as other invaluable contributions. Our research for this project was made possible by an Academic Senate Faculty Research Grant from UC – Santa Barbara an American Institute for Indian Studies Senior Long-term Fellowship.

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Ahuja, A., Ostermann, S.L. Crossing Caste Boundaries in the Modern Indian Marriage Market. St Comp Int Dev 51 , 365–387 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-015-9178-2

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A Dalit Woman’s Dues: Oppression in Inter-Caste Marriages

Arguably at the lowest rung of the established social hierarchy, Dalit women are often forced to endure extreme trials and tribulations. Their troubles manifest themself even when they supposedly gain upward social mobility, marrying into a caste that is higher than them. With more educational and socio-economic opportunities than ever before, there has been a steady increase in the number of such inter-caste marriages in India. However, there exists imperceptible oppression in inter-caste marriages, a bias that is characterized by caste abuse, humiliation, rejection and extreme forms of violence. This essay discusses the causes and multidimensionality of the obstacles faced by women when they choose to transcend caste lines and step into heterosexual marriages with upper-caste men. It also broadly engages in uncovering how gender and caste intertwine to push Dalit women into indescribable oppression, both inside and outside their marriage.

Introduction

True equality in marriage is not possible, as it will always remain an oppressive institution for the historically disadvantaged gender. This is because marriage, in many ways and forms, upholds patriarchal structures. It assigns social roles to women, where to maintain true balance in the family, women are supposed to take upon the responsibility of a homemaker while men go out to work. In most families, the household is dominated by males, specifically because they are considered to have a higher status in society. Therefore, marriage is an inherently unfeminist institution (Swaddle, 2019). Add to this, a woman is not only discriminated against because of her gender but also because of her so-called lower caste. This two-fold bigotry often results in abominable lives for Dalit women. Indian society, especially Hindu tradition, places great importance on conventional marriage. For most, it means a heterosexual, endogamous marriage whose sole purpose is caste preservation.

Inter-caste marriages are thus met with exceptional resistance. The rate of inter-caste marriages in India, as reported by India Human Development Survey, is as low as 5.82% and there has been no upward trend over the past four decades (The Print, 2020). There are two types of inter-caste marriages, anuloma (hypergamous) and pratiloma (hypogamy). While the former constitutes a marriage between a higher-caste man and a lower-caste woman, the roles are reversed in the latter. These two types of marriage are conceived by caste patriarchy as institutions that risk caste identity and its purity (Mitra, 2021). Hostile reactions to inter-caste marriages are a common phenomenon. However, the problem does not cease here. It is the experienced distress that Dalit women experience even after marriage, that is not discussed enough. These unfortunate wives have to go through regular domestic violence, caste abuse, intimate rejection and severe humiliation. For he retains a much higher status in society, it is in an upper-caste man’s blood to exploit the weak.

Sticks & Stones: Domestic Violence

While Babasaheb Ambedkar advocated for inter-caste marriages to eradicate and eventually eliminate the evils of caste system, it is now clear that such marriages bypass the proposed endogamy yet still retain their essence (Aravind, 2021). Dalit women are subjected to extreme forms of violence. They are beaten, raped, both physically and verbally abused and severely exploited (Sujatha, 2014). In most cases, the upper-caste man extracts labour and capital from the woman. More often than not, the household runs on her income. However, Dalit women are usually forced into menial work like domestic service or casual labour. The money that she earns through her work is spent on sustaining the household, and on her husband’s liquor. In a study conducted by Anveshi Women’s Studies Research Centre, Dalit women who were victims of domestic violence usually state that their husbands beat them while intoxicated and demanded that their wives supply them with money (Sujatha, 2014).

Dowry demands are another common factor that results in domestic violence for lower-caste women. Especially in inter-caste marriages, the Dalit woman is forced to bring generous dowry in exchange for promises of upper social mobility. Higher dowries assure upper-caste grooms, and when this transaction fails to go through, women are often abandoned, beaten or violated as punishment (Chiplunkar & Weaver, 2019). Such instances are common in both urban and rural areas. While a lower caste is an ascriptive form of stratification, it often results in a lower social class identity as well, precisely because one’s socioeconomic position based on employment relations is heavily characterized by caste status (Vaid, 2012). Therefore, it is very common for bridal families to not be able to fulfil their promises of considerable dowry to upper-caste men, the brunt of which is eventually borne by the woman.

Inconspicuous Oppression: Rejection & Humiliation

In inter-caste marriages that seem successful, there still exist imperceptible inequalities in ways that often escape the eyes. The Dalit woman is forced to curate her lifestyle according to impositions by the upper-caste family. In conversation with a newly inter-caste wedded couple, the groom declared that he will replace the wife’s blood with an upper caste one (Aravind, 2021). Such statements are common among inter-caste couples. It is believed that Dalit women corrupt the purity of upper-caste households. They are not allowed to enter their in-law’s homes, and although their income contributes to the sustenance of the marital family, they are still subjected to humiliation and harassment (Banerjee, 2021). The Dalit woman also becomes the subject of emotional oppression, where she is constantly teased about her caste status. She has abandoned post-marriage and is blamed for unfounded flaws, such as genetic defects in her children (Mitra, 2021). Dominant caste husbands thus often report do not want children from Dalit wives, or visit their Dalit grandparents’ home. They are also ostracized from their own community as a result of marrying Dalit women (Mangubhai et al., 2006). Most people in Hindu society thus finch away from inter-caste marriage, for they fear social exclusion and loss of reputation at the hands of the public.

Consequences of Inter-Caste Marriage: Long-Term Impact

According to a study conducted among Dalit women in Kalika, many respondents who have been victims to such oppression state long term impacts of caste-based marital violence. After she took several beatings, one woman started experiencing frequent dizziness and headaches (Khatri, 2021). Some women were subjected to malnourishment and violence to such an extent that they were forced to give up their jobs and forgo their income.

Many respondents also suffered from loneliness, depression, hopelessness and incessant anger. After a whole day of menial work, they get little to no privacy in their families and face caste abuse and humiliation at the hands of their own family as well as outsiders. This leads to severe psychological abuse and mental health problems for these women.

All such cases also lead to extreme damage to the woman’s reproductive health. While some suffered a miscarriage, others prolapsed or gave bith to low-weight, premature babies (Khatri, 2021).

Honour Killing: A Tool for Caste Preservation

Ambedkar’s view of caste was entrenched in endogamy. In his “Castes In India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development”, Ambedkar laid the foundation for a feminist take on caste by determining the value of surplus man and surplus woman. What he did not account for, was the modern-day phenomenon of honour killing. Ambedkar highlighted how Brahminical patriarchy both preserved and eulogized practices that degraded women, such as Sati, forced widowhood or child marriage (Rege, 2018). Now that these have been classified as heinous crimes and have almost ceased to exist, people have come up with new ways of caste preservation. The homicide of a woman member of a family or a social group, due to the belief that she has brought dishonour upon the community is one such way in which caste is preserved.. The practice is called honour killing (Banerjee, 2020) and it is instrumental in the notion of caste patriarchy . Women, who violate the code of caste chastity are chased, beaten down, ostracized, brutalized and killed (Banerjee, 2020).

Ostracization of these women from the community is an indirect way to ensure a forced maiden status so that she is not allowed to bring shame upon the community and cannot find herself a husband from the lower caste again. Similarly, causing death upon the couple solves the issue of surplus men and woman. Honour killings are thus a way to punish caste exogamy while simultaneously expressing one’s regard for caste preservation. This results in status maintenance in society and leads to fewer chances of social exclusion. As many as 145 incidents of honour killing were reported in India between 2017 and 2019 (India Today, 2021).

Babasaheb Ambedkar actively advocated for inter-caste marriage as an antidote to caste-based discrimination. However, the data above very well display the oppression that Dalit women continue to face due to the unequal partnership they share with their significant half in an exogamous marriage. In Annihilation of Caste, Ambedkar mentioned that celebrating inter-caste marriages is futile unless people destroy the belief in the sanctity of shastras (Attri, 2019). Therefore, gender-based violence, though common all over the world, should be studied in terms of Brahmanical patriarchy to understand the nuances of its implications in an inter-caste marriage. Reading Dalit women’s struggles and the shared intricacies of both gender and caste-based discrimination will help in empowering those burdened by several oppressive institutions.

Attri, P. (2019, July 4). Haryana Khap Panchayat’s directive against using caste surnames will

do precious little to end discrimination-india news , Firstpost . Firstpost. Retrieved April

3, 2022, from

https://www.firstpost.com/india/haryana-khap-panchayats-directive-against-using-caste-s

urnames-will-do-precious-little-to-end-discrimination-6928211.html

Banerjee, R. (2021, February 16). Oppressed Caste Woman In The Upper Caste Family: The Imperceptible Oppression In An Inter-Caste Marriage . Feminism In India. https://feminisminindia.com/2021/02/17/imperceptible-oppression-inter-caste-marriage/

Banerjee, S. (2020, May 5). Honour Killing: India’s Own Pandemic Of Casteist Patriarchy .

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/145-incidents-of-honour-killing-between-2017-and-

Ishita Bhambri

Ishita Bhambri is an undergraduate student of Psychology and Sociology at FLAME University, Pune. A raging feminist and a mental health advocate, she is deeply interested in gender studies and film literature. In her free time, she enjoys reading books and baking desserts.

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Caste and marriage in urban middle-class india.

Only 5 percent of Indians report they are in intercaste marriages. This often results in the casual observation that caste drives matrimonial choices. Traditionally, marriage outside caste has not found social approval, as honor killings continue to be reported across the country. However, in urban, middle-class India, young people are no longer limiting their search for marriage partners within their own caste.

For centuries, marriage has been an important mechanism through which the hierarchical caste system has reproduced itself. Individuals are born into a caste, generally marry someone within their own group, and then go on to have children who do the same. Openness to intercaste marriage signals the weakening of caste boundaries.

Outcomes are Deceptive

Social outcomes do not necessarily reflect people’s actual preferences and are an unreliable indicator of social attitudes, as illustrated by the case of black and white marriages in the United States. Today, the percentage of black and white marriages remains close to 1 percent of all marriages in the United States, but the social acceptance of these marriages has increased dramatically.

In 1958, Gallop asked respondents if they approved of blacks and whites intermarrying. Only 4 percent of those surveyed did. By 1978, this number had risen to 33 percent. By 2013, the figure had further jumped to 87 percent. As a result, low numbers of interracial marriages may not imply low interest in or social approval.

Interest in Intercaste Marriage

Evidence increasingly suggests that interest in intercaste marriage is higher than the actual reported rate. The 2004 Indian National Election Study, conducted by the Center for the Study of Developing Societies, asked a sample of 27,000 respondents if intercaste marriage should be banned. 60 percent approved of such a proposition. Urban residents were less enthusiastic, with 47 percent in favor of a ban. A study of more than 10,000 matrimonial advertisements that appeared across major national dailies between 1970 and 2010 found that the requests for within-caste proposals fell from 30 percent for the decade of 1970-80 to 19 percent for 2000-10.

What Motivates Interest in Intercaste Marriage?

To better understand the motivations that drive interest in intercaste marriage, Dr. Susan Osterman and I studied the preferences of Dalit (untouchable) and upper caste women in the urban, middle-class arranged marriage markets in three large Indian states: Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. We focused on women’s behavior because the taboos against intercaste marriage are stronger for women than men. Intercaste marriage is more consequential for women since they adopt the caste of their husbands.

Besides many other proposals, each of these women received expressions of interest from three potential high-income, high-status matches who were similar in height, age, skin tone, and educational status. They differed only in one respect; each belonged to a different caste—upper caste, backward caste, and Dalit.

What Did We Learn?

Out of the 1,070 women we studied, 62 percent were willing to look beyond their own caste to find suitable matches. 71 percent of Dalit women expressed interest in intercaste matches. Among upper caste women, only 54 percent did the same.

Women approached the marriage market with a view to upgrade either their economic class or caste status. But like any other market, the marriage market works on the principle of exchange; to get something, one has to be able to offer something in return.

A middle-class upper caste woman can use her higher caste status to improve her class status by considering marriage to a wealthier lower caste man. We found that among upper caste women, lower middle and middle-class women were more likely to respond to the two out of caste interests than their wealthier counterparts.

Similarly, a lower caste woman from a wealthy family could aspire to a higher caste status by leveraging her class status. Among Dalit women, the wealthier women were more likely than lower middle and middle-class women to respond to the two out-of-caste matrimonial interests.

Although an expression of matrimonial interest does not necessarily translate into a marriage, in the context of caste, even considering an inter-caste match is transformative. After all, to consider someone as a life partner, they have to be first acknowledged as socially acceptable. Driven by a desire for upward mobility, a significant number of people in the marriage market consider crossing caste boundaries, but the stigma associated with Dalits ensures that discrimination against them remains strong. We discovered that among upper caste women, 52.1 percent responded to an interest from a backward caste groom and only 28.7 percent responded to an interest from a Dalit groom with an almost identical profile.

What Does the Future Hold?

Urbanization undermines caste. The relative anonymity of an individual’s identity in a city makes it difficult for rules of purity and pollution to be observed and enforced in the public sphere. Fewer activities are then mediated by an individual’s caste identity. And urbanization will continue to increase. By 2030, 40 percent of Indians are predicted to live in urban areas.

The urban middle class, once a preserve of the upper castes, has become more diverse with gradual entry of backward castes and Dalits. The marriage market reflects this change. Susan and I found that in 1970 only 1.5 percent of matrimonial ads published in the national dailies belonged to backward castes and Dalits. This number had increased to 10 percent by 2010. 

In cities, the search for partners differs from the one in villages. People in the middle class shift from family and caste networks to friends and professional networks, and rely on technology. Already 250 million Indians own smartphones. Today, even as some online matrimonial websites bundle caste information with personal profiles, the new dating apps are moving away from such a practice.

These enabling factors and a fierce ambition for upward mobility will increase interest in inter-caste marriage in the ranks of the urban middle class. But significant obstacles remain. Families still police marriages through the threat of humiliation, boycott, and, in extreme cases, honor killing. Beyond the family, caste-based political parties and caste association leaders stand to lose influence if caste boundaries weaken; they are opposed to intercaste marriage. But theirs is a losing battle.

Against such backlash, the Indian state must act to protect individual freedoms to marry. Thus far, the state has encouraged intercaste marriage by providing cash rewards to intercaste couples. To add to these incentives, it can also provide these couples preferential access to government programs.

By acting swiftly against the threat of honor killings and its instigators, it will deter such acts. Public campaigns in favor of intercaste marriage will also lower its barriers. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar devoted his life to reflect deeply and movingly on the caste system and its maladies. In 1936, he had the following to say on caste divisions and marriage: “I am convinced that the real remedy is inter-marriage. Fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin, and unless this feeling of kinship, of being kindred, becomes paramount, the separatist feeling—the feeling of being aliens—created by caste will not vanish. Where society is already well-knit by other ties, marriage is an ordinary incident of life. But where society is cut asunder, marriage as a binding force becomes a matter of urgent necessity. The real remedy for breaking caste is inter-marriage. Nothing else will serve as the solvent of caste.” Dr. Ambedkar’s observation had a simple message: rules of caste and marriage were socially constructed, and what societies can build, they can also undo. In fact, genetic studies show that the practice of intercaste marriage was common in the Indian subcontinent until 1,900 years ago when it disappeared.

The demise of the caste system is not imminent. Caste fault lines remain strong in social and political life. But caste relations are not set in stone. They have been changing. With time, caste boundaries have become weaker in the public sphere. Openness to intercaste marriage reflects a silent transformation in social attitudes that is no longer confined to the public sphere, but has begun to extend into the private sphere in urban, middle-class India.

Amit Ahuja is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

India in Transition ( IiT ) is published by the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) of the University of Pennsylvania. All viewpoints, positions, and conclusions expressed in IiT are solely those of the author(s) and not specifically those of CASI. IiT articles are re-published in the op-ed pages of The Hindu: Business Line . This article can be read here . © 2016 Center for the Advanced Study of India and the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.

• Open access
• Published: 10 April 2024

Dynamics of caste and early childbearing in India: a perspective of three decades

• Manas Ranjan Pradhan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7011-894X 1 ,
• Sourav Mondal   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3869-6993 2 ,
• Daisy Saikia   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8545-1035 2 &
• Prasanna Kumar Mudi   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5605-3126 2  

BMC Women's Health volume  24 , Article number:  231 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Early childbearing disrupts girls’ otherwise healthy growth into adulthood and adversely affects their education, livelihood, and health. Individual, sociocultural, economic, environmental, and health service-related factors contribute to childbearing among young females. In India, caste affects health outcomes despite several affirmative policies aimed at improving the health and welfare of the backward castes/tribes. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence about the impact of caste on early childbearing, more specifically, regarding the trajectory of inter-caste disparities in early childbearing.

This study used data from all five rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in India to assess the association between caste and early childbearing over the last three decades. All women aged 20–24 [NFHS-1 ( n  = 17,218), NFHS-2 ( n  = 15,973), NFHS-3 ( n  = 22,807), NFHS-4 ( n  = 122,955) and NFHS-5 ( n  = 118,700)] were considered to create a pooled data set ( n  = 297,653) for analysis. Bivariate analysis and binary logistic regression were conducted using Stata (v17). ArcMap (v10.8) presented the caste-wise prevalence of early childbearing among the states and Union Territories (UTs).

Many women continue to have early childbearing despite a considerable reduction over the last three decades from 47% in 1992-93 to 15% in 2019-21. Compared to NFHS-1, the odds of early childbearing increased by 15% in NFHS-2 and, after that, declined by 42% in NFHS-3 and 64% in NFHS-4 and NFHS-5. The inter-caste disparity in early childbearing persists, albeit with a narrowing gap, with the Scheduled castes (SC) remaining the most vulnerable group. Adjusting the effects of socio-demographic and economic characteristics, SC women had significantly higher odds of early childbearing (OR = 1.07, CI = 1.04–1.11) than those from the General caste.

To decrease early childbirth, a focus on adolescent marriage prevention and increasing contraceptive use among young SC women is necessary. Strengthening ongoing programs and policies targeting educational and economic empowerment of the socially weaker castes/tribes will help in reducing early childbearing. Efforts to prevent early childbearing will accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-especially those related to health, poverty, nutrition, education, and general wellbeing, in addition to protecting women’s reproductive rights.

Peer Review reports

Early childbearing, or pregnancy and delivery during adolescence, can disrupt girls’ otherwise healthy growth into adulthood and adversely affect their education, livelihood, and health [ 1 ]. Early childbearing harms the mother because complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the primary cause of death in girls between 15 and 19 [ 2 ]. It further affects neonatal morbidity and mortality and child development in various ways [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. In 2021, an estimated 14% of adolescent girls and young women worldwide gave birth before the age of 18. The rates of early childbearing in India continue to be high [ 6 ]. Sociocultural, economic, and environmental factors i.e., coercive sexual relations, poverty, religion, early marriage, absence of affordable education, and non-use of contraceptives [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]; individual factors, i.e., excessive use of alcohol, substance abuse, educational status, low self-esteem, and inability to resist sexual temptation [ 8 , 10 , 11 ]; and health service related factors, i.e., cost of contraceptives, inadequate and unskilled health workers, long waiting time and lack of privacy at clinics, lack of comprehensive sexuality education, and non-friendly adolescent reproductive services [ 8 , 12 ] contribute to early childbearing. Early marriage, school dropout, and early childbearing are frequently linked, and all three are influenced by poverty. Young women who quit school early are more likely to marry and have children sooner than those who stay in school, precisely in low-income nations, including India [ 13 , 14 ].

The caste system is a form of social stratification in which castes are hierarchically organized and separated from each other by rules of ritual purity. Caste is a closed system of stratification, which limits inter-caste interaction and influences a person’s social status based on the caste in which they were born [ 15 ]. The caste system has played a significant role in shaping the occupations, roles, and values of Indian society [ 16 ]. Caste is also crucial in determining access to social and economic resources [ 17 , 18 ]. The castes are usually divided into four categories: Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and General castes. The SCs refer to groups of historically disadvantaged people seen as the lowest in the Indian caste structure. Indian constitution defines SC as “such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within such castes, races or tribes as are deemed under Article 341 to be SC for this constitution”. Similarly, STs are defined as “such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be ST for this constitution”. The OBC is a collective term for castes that are thought to be socially and educationally disadvantaged. The OBC groups are listed in Article 340 as backward classes [ 19 ]. The population that does not fall under the SC, ST, and OBC categories is the General/forward caste. In India, caste affects health [ 20 , 21 ] and is often explained through genetics, early environment, and opportunities due to social mobility [ 22 ]. In most socioeconomic development and health indicators, the backward castes/tribes lag significantly behind the General castes. The socially backward castes have inadequate access to healthcare [ 17 , 23 ], poor maternal health [ 24 , 25 ], higher fertility [ 26 ], and are at greater risk of neonatal and infant mortality [ 27 ]. Among the castes, STs, followed by SCs, are the most socioeconomically deprived, with low literacy rates, poor economic conditions, and limited access to healthcare [ 28 , 29 ]. Along with the STs, the SCs also have high fertility rates and higher newborn and under-five mortality rates, greater than the national average [ 30 ]. Moreover, adolescent girls belonging to lower castes are at a heightened risk of early marriage and pregnancy [ 31 , 32 , 33 ].

Over the year, the Government of India has launched several affirmative policy measures, such as reserving seats in education and employment, including reservation of seats in parliament and state legislative assemblies for the socioeconomic development of socially backward groups/castes. The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare also sets aside a sizeable budget under SC and Tribal Sub-Plan. Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), Auxiliary Nurses and Midwives (ANM), and Staff nurses have been instructed to give special attention to the health of the vulnerable sections, i.e., SCs and STs [ 34 ]. These measures are expected to reduce inter-caste inequity in health outcomes and improve the backward castes’ health and welfare [ 35 ].

Literature reveals inter-caste disparity in fertility and health outcomes, with women from the socially weaker castes/tribes being the most vulnerable groups. It is also evident that early childbearing can result from several sociocultural, economic, environmental, individual, and health service-related factors, including the outreach of policies and programs aimed at preventing it. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of empirical evidence about the impact of caste on early childbearing, more specifically, regarding the trajectory of inter-caste disparities in early childbearing. Understanding the significance of caste as a predictor of early childbearing would help assess the contributory role of caste-specific affirmative policies/programs aimed at the welfare of the backward castes. Moreover, this will reflect the outreach of family planning programs/policies among the socially backward groups over the year. Against this backdrop, this study assesses the association between caste and early childbearing in India over the last three decades.

The study used data from all five rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted during the last three decades, i.e., NFHS-1 (1992-93), NFHS-2 (1998-99), NFHS-3 (2005-06), NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-21). The NFHS is a nationally representative survey that provides data on numerous health and empowerment indicators, including fertility. The NFHSs employ a two-stage stratified sampling technique to select respondents, i.e., women of reproductive age. Only those who voluntarily consented to be interviewed were interviewed. Trained research investigators gathered the data using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). The report details the survey protocol, sampling, data collection tools, and quality control measures [ 6 ]. In this study, all the women aged 20–24 [NFHS-1 ( n  = 17,218), NFHS-2 ( n  = 15,973), NFHS-3 ( n  = 22,807), NFHS-4 ( n  = 122,955) and NFHS-5 ( n  = 118,700)] were considered to create a pooled data set ( n  = 297,653) for analysis (Fig.  1 ). We considered the women aged 20–24 for analysis to avoid any possible overlapping of the same cohort of women/women with similar characteristics in different survey rounds.

Flowchart of sample selection

Outcome variable

The outcome variable of this study was ‘early childbearing,’ defined as percentages of women who started childbearing (either had given birth or were pregnant) before 19 years of age. Past studies considered different ages of the women to describe early childbearing, such as below 20 years [ 36 ] and 18 years [ 37 ]. However, this study considered below 19 to capture all adolescent pregnancies and childbirths. Enough evidence exists that signifies the adverse outcomes of pregnancies/births to mothers below 19 years [ 38 , 39 ]. World Health Organization (WHO) also views that adolescent (10–19 years) pregnancy results in no biological, mental, or social maturation process and adversely affects maternal and fetal outcomes due to biological immaturity, inadequate antenatal care, malnutrition, unhealthy habits, stress, depression, and anxiety [ 40 ].

Predictor variables

The key predictor variable used in the analysis was ‘caste,’ categorized as SC, ST, OBC, and General caste. The NFHS-1 did not have a separate OBC category; OBC data was presented as a part of the General caste category. Additionally, selected socioeconomic and demographic factors such as years of schooling (no, less than ten years, ten or more years), mass media exposure (yes, no), religion (Hindu, Muslim, and others), wealth quintile (poorest, poorer, middle, richer, richest), place of residence (urban, rural), region (south, north, central, east, northeast, and west) and time (NFHS-1, NFHS-2, NFHS-3, NFHS-4 and NFHS-5) were included in the analysis to assess the adjusted effect of caste on early childbearing.

Statistical analysis

Bivariate analysis and Chi-square test were performed first to check the association between the predictor and outcome variables. Binary logistic regression was further conducted to check the adjusted effects of caste on early childbearing. The variables for the regression analysis were finalized after checking the multicollinearity among the predictor variables through the VIF Footnote 1 method [ 41 ]. In the analyses, weights were used to restore the sample’s representativeness. “A design weight is calculated to account for the overall selection probability of each household in the survey. The design weight is adjusted for household non-response and for individual non-response to obtain the sampling weights for households, for women, and for men, respectively. For national weights, the sampling weights are normalized to give a total number of weighted cases that equals the total number of unweighted cases at the national level. Normalization is done by multiplying the sampling weight by the estimated sampling fraction, calculated on the national level for national weights” [ 42 ]. The analyses were performed using Stata (version 17) with a significance level of 5%. ArcMap (v10.8) presented the most recent caste-wise prevalence of early childbearing among states and Union Territories (UTs).

Trend of early childbearing by caste

The percentage of women with early childbearing reduced gradually over the last three decades- from 47% in 1992-93 to 15% in 2019-21 (Fig.  2 ). The steepest decline occurred between 2005 and 06 and 2015-16 (48% points), followed by 1998-99 to 2005-06 (35% points). In the last three decades, there was a steady decline in early childbearing across the castes − 70% points for both SCs and STs and 69% points for the General castes. Nevertheless, early childbearing continued to be high among socially backward groups, i.e., SCs (16%) and STs (17%), compared to the General caste (14%). In 2019-21, among states and UTs, Tripura had the highest prevalence of early childbearing (33%), followed by West Bengal (31%) and Bihar (26%) (Fig.  3 ). Caste-wise, Tripura had the highest percentage of early childbearing for SCs and STs, Meghalaya had the highest percentage for OBCs, and Mizoram had the highest percentage for General caste (Fig.  4 ).

Trends of early childbearing among women aged 20–24 by caste, India,1992-93 to 2019-21

Early childbearing among women aged 20–24 by states/union territories, India, 2019-21

Early childbearing among women aged 20–24 by caste, India, 2019/21

Socioeconomic differential in early childbearing

Table  1 presents the socioeconomic differential in early childbearing from 1992 to 93 to 2019-21. One-fifth of SC and ST women began childbearing early. The corresponding figures for the OBCs and General caste was 16% and 19%, respectively. Early childbearing prevalence declined with increasing education, exposure to mass media, and increasing women’s economic condition across all the survey rounds. Moreover, early childbearing prevalence was lower among non-Hindus/Muslims and women from urban areas. Early childbearing was most common among women from the eastern region (26%), while it was least common among women from the northern region (13%).

Early childbearing by age and caste

Figure  5 presents early childbearing by age at first childbirth and caste. Irrespective of caste, a majority of the women aged 20–24 who started early childbearing had their first birth at age 18. Of the General caste women with early childbearing, 20% had their first birth by 15 years of age. The corresponding figures were 19% for STs, 18% for SCs and 14% for OBCs.

Early childbearing among women aged 20–24 by age at first child birth and caste, India, 1992-93 to 2019-21

Determinants of early childbearing

Table  2 , based on the pooled data, presents the logistic regression results for the association of caste with early childbearing. Adjusting the effects of socio-demographic and economic characteristics, SC women had significantly higher odds of early childbearing (OR = 1.07, CI = 1.04–1.11) than those from the General category. Compared to NFHS-1 (1992-93), the odds of early childbearing increased by 15% (OR = 1.15, CI = 1.09–1.20) in NFHS-2 (1998-99), and thereafter declined by 42% (OR = 0.58, CI = 0.55–0.60) in NFHS-3 (2005-06), 64% (OR = 0.36, CI = 0.35–0.38) in NFHS-4 (2015-16), and NFHS-5 (2019-21).

The study found that many women continue to have early childbearing despite a considerable reduction over the last three decades. Inter-caste disparities in early childbearing persist, albeit with a narrowing gap, with the SC women remaining the most vulnerable group. We found many women are bearing children early, which conforms to earlier studies that revealed that early childbearing rates are consistently high [ 33 , 43 , 44 ]. This study found that SC women are more likely to bear children early than their General caste counterparts. Accounting for other variables, a past study revealed that the SC girls were, on average, 10% more likely to give birth early than those from the other castes [ 43 ]. Several other studies also found that lower-caste adolescent girls are at higher risk of early marriage and pregnancy [ 31 , 32 ]. The study found that ST women are less vulnerable to early childbearing than SC women, although they exhibit equal socio-economic backwardness. This may be due to the better status of ST women owing to the distinctiveness of tribal cultures that leads to less discrimination of ST women than those from SCs, in addition to higher age at marriage and autonomy in fertility preference [ 45 ].

A relatively higher percentage of SC women continue to be illiterate than those from the General caste. For example, in 1992-93, 25% of SC women were literate, which increased to 90% in 2019-21, an annual increase of 2.2%. The corresponding figure for the General caste was 1.6% (47–94%) [ 6 ]. Enough literature reveals that inadequate education enhances the chance of early pregnancy, often through early marriage, inadequate awareness of contraception and its use, and low healthcare autonomy [ 43 ]. In 2019-21, more than half (51%) of the SC households had a Below Poverty Line (BPL) card compared with 33% of the General caste households [ 6 ]. A recent estimate also reveals that compared to the advantaged groups, the multidimensional poverty level is two times higher among the SCs [ 46 ]. It is proven that poverty often contributes to early marriage [ 47 ], which further contributes to inadequate use of contraception and, subsequently, early pregnancy [ 48 ]. Moreover, more SC women continue to marry below 18 than their counterparts from the General caste. For example, in 1992-93, 69% of SC women got married by 18, which decreased to 39% in 2019-21, a decrease of 1.03% annually. The corresponding figure for the General caste was 0.8% (59%- 37%) [ 6 ]. Social norms determine early marriage and pregnancy [ 49 ]. Marriage below 18 is significantly associated with women’s increased risk for no contraceptive use before first childbirth, high fertility, history of rapid repeat childbirth, and multiple unwanted pregnancies [ 50 ]. Early marriage again limits contraceptive use [ 51 ], thus resulting in early pregnancy.

The present study empirically proves that the inter-caste differentials in early childbearing are reducing, which is a positive social change. Narrowing inter-caste disparity in early childbearing also suggests the outreach of affirmative policies and programs aimed at the socio-economic development of the backward caste/tribes. A recent study highlights the contributory role of the implementation of social programs for women and girls’ school enrollment in the rise in age at marriage among the SCs, a significant predictor of early childbearing [ 52 ]. At the same time, the overall higher prevalence of early childbearing indicates the existing norms on marriage age and pregnancy immediately after marriage in Indian society. A past study revealed that gender norms significantly influence early fertility desires, but interventions frequently ignore this factor, especially for marginalized groups [ 53 ].

Early childbearing harms young women’s health and development and contributes to neonatal morbidity, mortality, and child development, more so among socially disadvantaged groups. Delaying the marriage age has been proven to delay the birth of the first child for young women [ 54 ], thus improving the health of younger women by reducing complications during pregnancy and childbirth. A past study suggests five promising interventions to address child marriage and early childbirth for girls, such as (a) an increasing opportunity for girl’s friendly higher education, (b) financial assistance to reduce the financial burden of the family regarding marriage expenses, (c) improved access to economic opportunities, (d) proper awareness regarding gender and social norms, and (e) special assistance for newlyweds, including access to sexual and reproductive health services to help young married couples delay getting children [ 55 ]. An intervention-based study found that strategies such as community-level youth information centers and exposure to mass media significantly reduce early marriage and early pregnancy among adolescents [ 32 ]. Another study assessing child marriage prevention measures in the country also suggests interventions aiming at increased attendance at school and changing social attitudes to child marriage are two effective ways that benefit society and the economy [ 56 ]. It is worth mentioning that several Indian states have programs that provide monetary assistance to financially strapped families for the marriage expenses of daughters. For example- Rupashree Prakalpa in West Bengal ensures a one-time incentive of 25,000 Indian Rupees (INR) to low-income families when adult daughters get married [ 57 ]. In Uttar Pradesh, poor families from minority communities are entitled to a one-time amount of INR 51,000 for a daughter’s marriage under the UP Shadi Vivah Anudan Yojana [ 58 ]. In Odisha, girls from the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) are given a one-time cash incentive of INR 20,000 for marrying after 18 years of age [ 59 ].

The study’s strengths are that the findings are based on large-scale, nationally representative samples chosen using a robust sampling design. The study presents the level and trajectory of inter-caste disparity in early childbearing for the last three decades; thus, the results are imperative and relevant. The results contribute to the existing scanty evidence on the role of caste in fertility preference, which may also apply to similar settings in other South-Asian countries like Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. However, the cross-sectional design of NFHS limits any causal inference drawn from this analysis. In the NFHS-1, OBCs were included in the General caste category; thus, care must be taken while comparing the caste groups over time. There is also a possibility of an intersectional vulnerability affecting early childbearing among caste groups in India. Additionally, social norms and contextual factors influence early childbearing, which this analysis could not include due to a lack of information.

Caste continues to be a significant predictor of early childbearing, and SC women are the most susceptible, though there has been a substantial reduction in inter-caste disparity in early childbearing in the last three decades. Early childbearing among the socially backward groups is often influenced by their early marriage, low/no contraceptive use, and inadequate healthcare autonomy; those again determined by their inadequate education and poor economic condition; thus, ongoing programs and policies aimed at educational and economic empowerment of the socially weaker groups should be strengthened. The result further suggests an emphasis on preventing adolescent marriages and expanding contraceptive use among young SC women to reduce early childbearing. Efforts to prevent early childbearing will accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-especially those related to health, poverty, nutrition, education, and general wellbeing, in addition to protecting women’s reproductive rights.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the Demographic and Health Surveys Repository through individual registration [ https://www.dhsprogram.com/data/new-user-registration.cfm ].

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Abbreviations

Scheduled Tribe

Scheduled Caste

Other Backward Classes

National Family Health Survey

Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing

Confidential Interval

Indian Rupee

Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups

Variance Inflation Factor

Union Territory

Accredited Social Health Activist

Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife

World Health Organization

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Pradhan, M.R., Mondal, S., Saikia, D. et al. Dynamics of caste and early childbearing in India: a perspective of three decades. BMC Women's Health 24 , 231 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03077-0

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Received : 27 August 2023

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-024-03077-0

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