271 fatherless girls married off at mass marriage in Gujarat's Surat

Surat, Dec 22: In yet another chapter of the annual mass marriage arranged for fatherless girls, this year's grand event on December 22 witnessed 271 couples from different communities tying the knot.

State Ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Ganpatsinh Vasava were also present at the occasion which was held some 270 km from Ahmedabad and has run for eight years in a row and is funded by diamond tycoon Mahesh Savani, who believes that making a gift of brides is a blessing from God.

He has been funding and organising mass weddings for fatherless girls in Surat yearly since 2010.

In an event that has entered its eighth year, the organizers had received applications from 500 such eligible brides. However, with the current slowdown, it became difficult for the organizers to accommodate all of them this time.

Among the many ladies chosen for the ceremony, 5 are Muslims and one is from Nepal. Two ladies are from the state of Uttar Pradesh, 5 from Maharashtra and one every from Jharkhand and Odisha.

The occasion in 2012 noticed simply 23 ladies getting married and has steadily elevated since then.

Weddings in India are costly affairs with the bride's household historically anticipated to pay the groom a big dowry of money and presents.

Fathers in India additionally historically pay for his or her daughters' weddings, which may imply that if a bride's father has died or is extraordinarily poor, her possibilities of getting married are nearly non-existent.