The Goa Government woke up suddenly to try and arrest the spiraling number of failing marriages by seeking to introduce mandatory pre-marriage counseling, an idea that has now been rightly binned.
The ground reality is that Goa has sadly caught up with the national and global tendency on this malaise of divorces. Today Courts across the State are inundated with matrimonial cases possibly overtaking the number of property disputes. In earlier years divorce cases may have been restricted to urban areas and the elite in society. But today, it is widespread from the wilderness of Sanguem to the villages of Sattari, with cases erupting all over and in every stratum of the community. We are witnessing that even well knitted arranged marriages and ripened love marriages are also hitting the rocks.
Divorce cases can end up being extremely acrimonious and very stressful while they could also like all other litigations drag on for years. So instead of having toyed with that skewed idea of pre- marriage counseling which would have been an exercise in futility, the government would be well advised to instead set up designated Family Courts where marriage disputes can in a congenial atmosphere be speedily brought to a happy ending by either resolving the dispute or winding up the marriage itself. They say marriages are made in Heaven, so it is only proper that if there is to be an end to the marriage that it be as dignified and as fair as possible.
The Government should do some soul searching to see whether their policies directly or indirectly contribute to the pressures on human well-being and harmonious survival because of which people find it challenging to stick to their marriage vows of better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness or in health. The current pandemic should serve as a real eye opener.
Relationships are a lot like Algebra. You look at your X and wonder Y!
The day may not be far when in Goa like in the West there may be a celebration Party hosted to mark the occasion of Divorce and shops selling cards ‘Congratulations on your Divorce’ may hit the racks. Goldsmiths may also cash in with a ring for the right hand as divorcing couples utter the immortal words ‘With this ring I thee divorce’?
