Silchar, June 3: Youths in Mizoram are cool about having pre-marital sex but this has sent alarm bells ringing in the churches of this Christian state.

Synod Social Front, a voluntary agency sponsored by the Presbyterian church, is on a mission to make the youths aware of the pitfalls of this permissive way of life.

SSF coordinator Robert S. Halliday, a doctorate in social counselling, told this correspondent over phone from Aizawl that a statewide survey conducted by his NGO among 31,202 youths between 17 and 27 years of age, had found that 43.27 per cent of them had had pre-marital sex, a practice not ordained by the churches of the state and considered to be a social taboo.

Asked whether they thought it was morally wrong, 87.43 per cent of the youths who had had pre-marital sex, had said it was “morally repugnant” while 9.88 per cent said there was “nothing wrong” about it.

Halliday claimed that his NGO had succeeded in reaching out to a large section of Mizo girls and boys on the evils of pre-marital sex, which gives rise to stigma and social problems such as the birth of unwanted babies. The NGO has already completed the first phase of its campaign among about 10,000 boys and girls.

Halliday said during the campaign, in which about 100 volunteers of both genders were mobilised, a set of socially accepted ethical guidelines were propagated. He claimed that the campaign had succeeded in making a positive impact among the youths.

He said his NGO had opened counselling centres in association with other NGOs of the state, including the Young Mizo Association, to educate the youth about the evils of pre-marital sex. On an average, 15 youths visit these counselling centres on a working day. Halliday is hoping their numbers will increase during the second phase of campaigning, which will be launched soon.

Regular church-goers expressed concern over the rise in pre-marital sex among Mizo youths. Bethsa, a young Mizo gospel singer and a musical sensation in Mizoram, had recently said pre-marital sex was a “no-no” for her and had vowed to preserve her chastity till she entered into wedlock.

Halliday blamed the unimpeded clandestine sale of pornographic video-cassettes in several music retail shops for the social malady and added that it was disconcerting that the youths did not find pre-marital sex a social and religious taboo any more.

He said the Mizo Christian society was very free about a boy meeting a girl in homely ambience, and added that this was a fallout of Zawlbuk, which was practised by the Mizos in the last century and early 20th century. Zawlbuk allowed unmarried Mizo girls and boys to meet in a bamboo enclosure within the confines of a village to know each other before their marriage.

Sample Survey

Number of people questioned
31,202

Age group
17-27 years

Did you have pre-marital sex?
Yes
43.27%

Is it morally wrong to indulge in pre-marital sex?
Morally repugnant
87.43%

Nothing wrong
9.88%

Can’t say
2.69%