"Not a Public but a Private Sector Engineer"
Bride Declares Refusal During Wedding Ceremony
Last Year's Civil Service Exam Competition Ratio 1300:1
At a wedding in India, a bride refused to marry after learning about the groom's occupation late in the ceremony.
On the 25th (local time), local media including News18 reported that at a wedding held recently in the Farukhabad area of Uttar Pradesh in northern India, the bride refused to marry. The incident reportedly occurred immediately after the Varmala ceremony, where the bride and groom place flower garlands around each other's necks. Varmala is one of the most important rituals in a Hindu wedding, symbolizing the acceptance of each other as life partners and a lifelong promise of respect.
Previously, the bride's family arranged the marriage with a man from Balrampur, Chhattisgarh, located about 580 km southeast of Farukhabad. The marriage broker described the groom as "an engineer employed by the government who owns thousands of pyeong of land." However, during the wedding, the bride learned that the groom was actually an engineer working in the private sector, not the public sector. She then expressed her refusal to marry, stating that she did not want to marry anyone who was not a government official. In India, government employees are known to be highly preferred due to their greater job stability compared to private sector workers.
The families on both sides, taken aback, tried to persuade the bride, and the groom's family even brought pay slips to prove his income. It was shown that the groom earns 120,000 rupees (about 2 million KRW) per month. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the average monthly wage of manufacturing workers in India last year was 195 USD (about 270,000 KRW). In other words, the groom was earning about nine times the average wage. Despite this, the bride firmly refused to marry, and eventually, both families agreed to split the wedding expenses and called off the ceremony.
Netizens who learned about the story reacted with comments such as "The groom did nothing wrong, it's unfortunate," "The marriage broker should have explained properly," and "Both families must be in shock."
Meanwhile, last year, the competition rate for the Indian civil service exam (UPSC) reached 1300 to 1. The exam is known to be open only to those aged 21 to 32 with a university degree or equivalent. The number of attempts is limited to six, and candidates must pass two exams and an interview to be finally accepted. The monthly salary of an Indian civil servant is 56,100 rupees (about 920,000 KRW), which is higher than the average worker's wage. Additionally, the job offers guaranteed retirement, housing, a car, and staff, making it very popular.
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