Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant nixes plan for pre-marriage advice

PANAJI: Barely three days after law minister Nilesh Cabral announced that pre-marriage counselling would be made compulsory for couples seeking to get married — in light of the rising number of divorce cases in the state — chief minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said the government would not consider the proposal as it has been receiving mixed views from different sections of society.
“The government is not keen on introducing something new of this kind right now. At present, my decision is not to consider it,” Sawant told TOI.
BJP’s state unit on Thursday morning had strongly opposed the move for pre-marriage counselling, with state party president Sadanand Shet Tanavade saying that the unit had already conveyed to the chief minister to not proceed with the proposal.
He told TOI that the party had not been taken into consideration regarding the decision of pre-marriage counselling even as he pointed out that there are at least 11,000 marriages registered in the state each year.
“Considering these records, the state will have to conduct pre-marriage counselling for at least 22,000 people. Can the government counsel so many persons? Does the state government have such resources?” Tanavade said.
Also, who will guarantee that even after counselling there will not be any divorces?” he said.
Tanavade said parents themselves were mature enough to counsel their children prior to marriage.
State BJP vice-president Dattaprashad Kholkar also agreed with Tanavade’s views. In a social media post, he demanded to know how many couples file for divorce within six months of marriage.
“Are the 25-30 year olds of Goa immature and uneducated that they don’t understand the aspects of marriage? Aren’t the parents and family elders capable of counselling their wards?”
Taking a potshot at Cabral, Kholkar said, “Irresponsible talk to grab headlines and publicity. Please don’t tarnish the image of Goan youth with false propaganda. Don’t sow the seeds of separation and divorce amongst the would-be brides and grooms of Goa. You don’t have the right to disturb the social fabric and interfere in the sacred marriage process of Goans, except the registration formalities.”
The law minister had said that counselling, which would be conducted by the state itself, would “explain the concept of marriage” to couples before they’re allowed to enter wedlock.
Cabral had told reporters that the counselling would be done immediately after the first signature and would be conducted through the Goa Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (GIPARD).
“The certificate of completion of counselling (from GIPARD) would be compulsory for the second signature,” he had said.