Goa To Start Premarital Counselling For Couples Due To Rising Divorces

Goa To Start Premarital Counselling For Couples Due To Rising Divorces

Two things that came in abundance last year during the lockdown. One, the number of people catching coronavirus. And two, more and more wedding invitations for lockdown weddings that took place in 2020, despite of us being in the middle of a pandemic. Cut to 2021, where cases are still being reported non-stop during this second wave, but the cases of weddings have now been replaced with divorces, especially in the state of Goa, where there has been a worrying increase in the number of divorces and annulments of marriage.

Goa Law Minister Nilesh Cabral made an announcement on Monday where he urged the importance of premarital counselling sessions for the people in Goa, keeping in mind the rate at which couples are filing for divorce in the state.

Suggesting couples to consider sitting in for state organised counselling sessions, Cabral spoke with the Indian Express as he said, “Annulment of marriage is a concern. A lot of marriages are getting annulled in a matter of two to four months, a year or three years. Within our department, we were worried.”

Also Read : Businessman Harsh Goenka’s Tweet On Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos’ Divorces And Alimony Is Sexist, And Twitter’s Calling It Out

The programme that will be carried out by the Department of Registration would be taking place in between the 15 days gap from registration and solemnisation of marriages. Which would perhaps be the perfect time for couples to think about what they are signing up for and make the right decision.

Nilesh Cabral further also said, “The annulment of a marriage has to be notified. If you go to the Gazetteer of Goa, you will see that there are at least 10-15 marriages annulled every 15 days,” pointing out how these worrying statistics were what urged the Department of Registration to look at this programme as their “social responsibility”.

Nilesh stressed on it by also commenting, “We should also take responsibility to sit with the couples after the first signature and tell them what their duty towards each other is, what their duties and responsibilities towards their children are, what their duties towards their in-laws are. We have made a small programme.” The counselling sessions are touted to be a half-day classroom session, wherein the couples shall be given their certificate after having attended it.

It seems like a great and a thoughtful initiative by the state of Goa to step in and consider lending counselling services to couples to ensure that they are doing what is best for them indeed.Maybe this will save some marriages? Or bring down the divorces? Only time will tell.

Also Read : Shruti Haasan Said She Was Excited When Her Parents Got Divorced. She Felt They Were “Happier Apart”

Sadhika Sehgal

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