Do you think marriage as a sacrament is loosing its value in Modern India?
Approach · directive: “do you think”
What it asks · Take a reasoned position on whether marriage is losing its sacramental value, separating legal and behavioural change from continuing social and emotional meaning, and showing both sides.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Take a clear position on whether marriage as a sacrament is losing its value in modern India
- Support it with evidence of change (law, behaviour, attitudes) and of continuity, and qualify the position
Open with · Traditionally a lifelong, religiously sanctioned bond, marriage in India is now increasingly seen as a partnership of choice, and the law itself allows divorce and consent-based unions.
Cover
- Signs of change: rising divorce and separation in cities, later marriage, live-in relationships, inter-caste and inter-faith unions, and marriage viewed as a contract.
- Law: the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides for divorce, including by mutual consent; the Special Marriage Act permits civil marriage; courts have recognised some live-in relationships.
- Drivers: women's education and employment, urbanisation, individualism, media and changing ideas of compatibility and equality.
- Continuities: marriage remains near-universal; rituals, family involvement and arranged marriages endure, and the idea of a lifelong bond is still widely held.
- Nuance: change is uneven across class, caste, region and generation; part of what is being questioned is patriarchal inequality inside marriage, not commitment itself.
- Stance: value is being redefined, from duty and permanence towards companionship, consent and equality, rather than lost.
Close with · Marriage is being renegotiated, not abandoned; preserving commitment while ensuring equality and dignity should be the aim.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2023, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 217 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
In Hindu tradition marriage is a samskara, a sacred and indissoluble bond rather than a contract; modern India has kept the ceremony but is redefining the bond around choice, consent and equality.
Signs of erosion
- Law: the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides for divorce, including by mutual consent; the Special Marriage Act offers civil marriage outside religion; courts have recognised some live-in relationships.
- Behaviour: divorce and separation are rising in cities, marriage is being delayed, and live-in, inter-caste and inter-faith unions are more visible.
- Attitudes: educated, working women and an individualist urban culture judge marriage by compatibility and equality, not duty and permanence.
Signs of continuity
- Marriage remains near-universal; family-arranged matches, elaborate rituals and the ideal of a lifelong bond still dominate, especially in rural India.
- Divorce is still rare in aggregate, and the stigma attached to it shows that the sacramental norm retains force; change is uneven by class, caste, region and generation.
My view
- What is weakening is not commitment but the patriarchal element of the sacrament, the demand that a wife endure inequality or violence for the sake of permanence; what is emerging is companionate marriage with an exit option.
Marriage in India is being renegotiated rather than devalued: the aim should be to keep its commitment while ensuring dignity and equality within it.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.