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.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Take a position: is marriage as a sacrament losing its value in modern India?
- Support it with evidence of change (law, courts, behaviour) and of continuity, and give a qualified verdict
Open with · In Hindu tradition marriage is a samskara, a sacred lifelong union of duty rather than a contract; modern India has not discarded this ideal but is rewriting its terms.
Cover
- Law of exit: Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act allows divorce by mutual consent.
- Courts: Shilpa Sailesh (2023) lets the Supreme Court dissolve a marriage for irretrievable breakdown under Article 142(1).
- Choice over duty: education, women's work and city life make compatibility the test; live-in and inter-caste unions grow.
- Continuity: 23% of women aged 20–24 married before 18 (NFHS-5); rituals and family arrangement endure.
- Stigma of divorce shows the sacramental norm still has force.
- Verdict: the patriarchal element erodes, commitment survives; value is redefined, not lost.
Close with · Marriage in India is moving from sacrament to partnership with its sanctity intact, and that shift serves SDG 5 (gender equality) when commitment rests on consent and dignity, not endurance.
Add value (verified)
- Supreme Court Constitution Bench (2023): it can grant divorce under Article 142(1) for complete and irretrievable breakdown of marriage even if the other spouse opposes.Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan, judgment of 1 May 2023 — Supreme Court of India ↗“whether this Court can grant divorce in exercise of power under Article 142(1) of the Constitution of India when there is complete and irretrievable breakdown of marriage in spite of the other spouse opposing the prayer”
- The same judgment discusses the six-month period under Section 13-B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act for divorce by mutual consent.Shilpa Sailesh v. Varun Sreenivasan, judgment of 1 May 2023 — Supreme Court of India ↗“the period of six months for moving the second motion as stipulated in sub-section (2) to Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act”
- NFHS-5 (2019–21): 23% of women aged 20–24 were married before 18.Child marriage campaign — PIB, Ministry of Women and Child Development ↗“23% of women aged 20–24 were married before they turned 18 (National Family Health Survey-5, 2019–21)”
- SDG 5: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.Goal 5 — UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development ↗“Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2023, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 16 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 225words · Minimalist IAS
In Hindu tradition marriage is a samskara, a sacred lifelong union of duty rather than a contract. Modern India has not discarded this ideal; it is rewriting its terms.
Signs the sacrament is weakening
- Law of exit: Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act allows divorce by mutual consent, making an indissoluble bond dissoluble.
- Judicial shift: in Shilpa Sailesh (2023) a Constitution Bench held the Supreme Court may dissolve a marriage under Article 142(1) for irretrievable breakdown, even if one spouse opposes.
- Choice over duty: education, women's paid work and city life make compatibility the test; live-in, inter-caste and inter-faith unions are more visible.
Signs of continuity
- Early and arranged: 23% of women aged 20–24 were married before 18 (NFHS-5, 2019–21), so family-led marriage stays strong.
- Ritual and stigma: kanyadan, saptapadi and kin consent still frame most weddings, and divorce still carries stigma, especially for women.
| Aspect | Sacrament | Emerging view |
|---|---|---|
| Basis | dharma and duty | choice and companionship |
| Permanence | indissoluble | dissoluble by law |
| Gender | wife adjusts | equal partners |
My view
- Redefined, not lost: what erodes is the patriarchal demand that a wife endure cruelty for permanence; commitment and ritual meaning endure, unevenly across class and region.
Marriage in India is moving from sacrament to partnership with its sanctity intact, and that shift serves SDG 5 (gender equality) when commitment rests on consent and dignity, not endurance.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 16 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
