MUMBAI: The lockdown has caused immense hardship to all sections of people, but it has also come as a blessing in disguise for farmers in Maharashtra by reducing their expenses on the wedding of their children.
Since there is a restriction on the number of people who can attend a wedding ceremony currently, the cost of such functions has drastically come down.
Happy at this, farmer leader Nanasaheb Patil said, “A huge amount of money was squandered on unnecessary things like orchestra, firecrackers etc. Nowadays, wedding functions are peaceful.”
Vijay Jawandia, another farmer, said one of the reasons for farmer suicides was the debt incurred due to huge money spent on children’s marriages.
Because of the cost factor, many people are opting for marriage during the lockdown instead of cancelling or postponing it, he said.
“The poor try to copy the affluent people and spend huge money on marriages. This pushes them deeper into poverty and forces them to take their lives,” Tukaram Patil, a Maratha leader, adding that the lockdown had set a ‘good precedent’ of frugal weddings.