Mahapanchayat bans lavish wedding functions, dowry

The mahapanchayat, an amalgam of panchayat members of 12 village met at Dujana village and took the strong step to cut the expenses on lavish marriage functions.

The mahapanchayat also banned use of firearms, DJs and orchestras in marriage functions.

In an effort to reduce the financial burden on the girl's family, the Mahapanchayat announced a complete ban the dowry system.

"It was observed that farmers were spending majority of compensation received by them for the land acquisition by the state government for lavish weddings and later faced financial crisis as they did not plan for future and had not invested the money in buying land in other villages which could provide them regular livelihood," farmer leader Roopesh Verma said.

"Dowry system has caused several social evils, though the demand were often met, women were being burnt and killed by in-laws. Hunger for dowry will never subside if we do not check and stop giving and taking dowry," said Verma.

"It was decided that only a 100-member gathering would be allowed at a marriage ceremony. It will include both those from the bride and the groom side,