A Surfeit of Bachelors

A recent survey has revealed that a majority of bachelors of marriageable age in rural Assam remain unmarried nowadays. This is quite different from the situation that prevailed two or three decades ago when rural youths tended to marry quite young. The only reason for the present trend of enforced bachelorhood is the very high rate of unemployment in the State. These young people choose not to marry because without a job they cannot afford to start families of their own. This is a situation that Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi should really worry about. After all, if he is able to keep a tab on how many contractors of Assam are well off today, he should also be able to keep a tab on how the youth of Assam are doing—particularly the huge segment of unemployed youths. He is obviously aware that in a State where he makes tall claims of significant development taking place, the statistical data should reveal a higher level of employment. Actually, the very opposite seems to be happening. We have a far higher number of unemployed youths because there has been no industrial development worth talking about for over 30 years.  So the question is whether it is enough for him to be concerned about how contractors are doing in Assam or whether he should also worry about how the unemployed youths are passing their days without the means of livelihood and in considerable frustration in his so-called developed State.