International Institute for Population Sciences
Deemed to be University (An Autonomous Organization of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India)

Inter-caste and inter-religious marriages are still considered as taboo in India. India has experienced a very law prevalence of inter-caste marriages. It is studied that inter-caste, and inter-religious marriages will abolish religious and the caste conflicts, but India is still struggling to come out of this social menace. The present paper aims to assess the prevalence of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages among ever married women. Additionally, determinants of inter-caste marriages has also been explored in the study. The data has been analysed from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) conducted during 2015-2016 in India. The bivariate and multivariate analysis has been used in the study. Results of the study shows that most of the inter-caste marriages took place within the same religion. Similarly, the inter-ethnic marriages are comparatively higher among inter-caste marriages. On the contrary, inter-caste and inter-ethnic marriages are quite low among the inter-religious group. Results indicate that the majority of inter-caste marriages are not crossing the boundaries of their religious belief. The analysis reveals that the inter-caste marriages are more significant between two nearest castes groups in the social hierarchy. It replicate that as any other phenomena, caste hierarchy is persisting in inter-caste marriages. Hence, the policymaker should develop the policy to reduce the gap between social groups and promote inter-caste and inter-religious marriages.