The price of a hymen (or lack thereof)

The Mukhya Mantri Kanyadan Yojana is a scheme by which the Madhya Pradesh Government helps girls from poor families get married. Those of you who are familiar with why girls from poor families in India need help with getting married may skip on to the next paragraph. For those of you who find this bewildering - daughters are often considered a bit of a disaster in low income families, since the gender bias in the informal labour sector means that they will never be able to earn much, and the lack of personal security in low income dwelling means that they will eventually have to be married to man who can protect them. Parents may be expected to pay dowries to the groom's families to achieve these marriages, and are almost certain to be expected to pay for the wedding and the 'setting up' of the new couples' household.

Under the state scheme "Marriages are solemnised free of cost under and as all necessary arrangements are made by the district administration. Every couple is provided assistance to the tune of Rs six thousand. Out of this amount, Rs five thousand is spent on provision of household items and Rs one thousand on the arrangements...apart from assistance from the state government, voluntary organisations and distinguished citizens are also providing articles to the newly married couples." The state government concerned is of course rather pleased about the whole affair and happy to swagger about, boasting about it.

But recently, very recently, a huge problem was apparently discovered with this exercise. Apparently there is one little step that these young women have to go through before the state is willing to 'give them away' - they have to go through a medical examination. The state claims that this is about testing for pregnancy, but others say that the tests were to check the 'virginity' of the brides. So no hymen could mean no wedding, no gifts, no money and presumably (since the whole village'd have seen the girl being turned away at the mass wedding) public branding as an 'immoral' women.

Additional reading for the curious:

- The ultra violet post

- The Huffington Post

- The Indian Express

- BBC