ST: NEW DELHI - SOME men in western India are renting out their
wives, cashing in on a bride shortage, a news report said
yesterday.
Mr Atta Prajapati, a farm worker in Gujarat state, leases out his
wife Laxmi to a wealthy landowner for 8,000 rupees (S$280) a month,
the Times of India reported, citing unidentified police officials.
Farm workers earn a monthly minimum wage of about 1,050
rupees.
Ms Laxmi is expected to live with the man, look after him and his
house and have sex with him, the report said.
The Times said this was not an isolated incident in the western
state, and that several men rent their wives to other men on a
month-by-month basis.
The male-female ratio has been skewed across India because many
parents abort female foetuses, preferring sons to daughters.
Getting daughters married off is a major burden for parents, who
usually have to pay the groom's family a dowry of cash and
gifts.
Dowries were outlawed in 1961, but the practice is still
common.
The nationwide ratio of females per 1,000 males declined from 945
in 1991 to 927 in 2001, according to the national census. But in
Gujarat, the figure fell to 828. Officials said the number could be
as low as 700 in some parts of the state.
It is not unusual for wealthy families to hire housekeeping staff
in India, but prostitution is illegal.
The lack of marriageable girls in Gujarat has also led to booming
business for bride brokers, who charge up to 70,000 rupees for a
match. -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
