Latest J&K wedding curbs to be as ineffective as others?

Weeks before the start of wedding season in Jammu and Kashmir, the state government on Tuesday ordered the restructuring of the number of guests invited to marriage and ring ceremonies, feasts and parties.

Food, civil supplies, and consumer affairs minister Choudhary Zulfikar Ali said that the order would come into force on April 1 and that district magistrates had been asked to “execute it in letter and spirit” so that the “injudicious use of essential commodities during social, government and private functions is curbed”. He also said that there would be a complete ban on the use of amplifiers, loud speakers, and firecrackers in such functions.

As per the order, the host can invite only 500 guests for a daughter’s marriage and 400 for that of a son, and the upper limit for the number of guests for a ring ceremony is 100. The number of dishes that can be served at such ceremonies have also been restricted to seven non-vegetarian and an equal number of vegetarian dishes, besides two types of sweets or ice cream. Also, no sweets or dry fruits are to be given away with the invitation cards.

Mr Ali said that the DCs of all of the state’s 22 districts had been asked to ensure that no one was excused for any violation, “whether a bureaucrat or a politician”. However, not many people seem to be optimistic about its success, as such diktats issued in the past miserably failed to leave any impact on the routine of extravagant weddings in Kashmir and in some other parts of the state.

The last such major order was issued in September 2005 after the then PDP-Congress government revived the Guest Control Order of 1973, keeping those who were preparing for extravagant weddings on their toes. Equally worried were Wazas, the traditional chefs who cook the wazwan, the cuisine that provides a special experience in Kashmiri hospitality. However, it proved to be a damp squib just like other such orders issued previously. The fears that Wazas, and others involved in the preparation of wazwan, would find less work to do in the peak marriage season proved unfounded as nothing had changed on ground.

The latest order, like the previous ones, has been issued under the powers vested under Section 3 of the Essential Commodities Act and the intent, as said by the minister, is to check growing extravaganza in marriages across the Himalayan state. Mr Ali asserted that the order has been revived on the persistent demand of several social and religious organisations and citizens to check extravagance in marriages and other similar ceremonies.

Official sources said that the order was necessitated also by the decrease in the supply of meat and other essential commodities due to high consumption during marriage season, which results in a hike in prices of the same. They said that the demand of meat during the marriage season increases manifold, which affects its supply during the rest of the year. Officials estimate mutton worth Rs 400 million is supplied to the Kashmir Valley alone from Delhi and other livestock markets in the country during the marriage season.

Though many people, including some religious and social organisations, welcomed the move, terming it the need of the hour, they also wonder whether the order would be implemented seriously by official agencies and members of Kashmiri society. When the last such order was issued, Kashmir’s grand imam Syed Ahmed Sayeed had said, “My worry is not who indulges in lavish spending, but how those who can’t afford it are made outcasts.”

Kashmir is a Muslim-majority area, and unlike in many parts of the world with sizeable Muslim populations, particularly the Arab countries, it is the bride’s side which bears the brunt of the costs in arranged marriages in the Valley. Apart from being forced to spend lavishly to serve wazwan to the groom and his guests, who usually are over 100 in number, the host also has to spend a fortune on jewellery and other dowry items to be offered to the groom or to be worn by the bride.

An estimate puts the number of women who could not marry even after the age of 35 to 40 at 700,000 in a population of 13 million, simply because their parents or guardians are unable to bear the cost. In the face of such a situation, what would happen to more than 30,000 women widowed during the two-and-a-half-decades-old conflict is a crucial question being raised. There is equal concern about the future of the orphans whose number is twice as high.

Reacting to the apprehension that the order would die its own death after an initial hullabaloo, Taj Mohiuddin, the then CAPD minister, had assured people in September 2005 that it would be a different story this time. “This time, every aspect has been thoroughly considered to ensure strict enforcement of the law and punishment includes three years imprisonment,” he had said. To ensure proper implementation of the Guest Control Order, the government had also announced to constitute special squads to keep a watch on any possible violation of the order. Nothing changed, and not a single person was arrested or punished for violating the order.

The present dispensation has made identical promises. Mr Ali pledged that he would not spare offenders. But, given past experiences, optimism is the missing ingredient and many fail to see  light at the end of the tunnel.