News Highlight
To eradicate child marriage, Nayagarh, a tiny Odisha district, has adopted a unique initiative by scrupulously recording information on all adolescent girls in the district.
Aliva Programme
- From birth registration date to Aadhaar number, family details to skill training information, information of 48,642 adolescent girls can be found in registers named Aliva.
- Nayagarh, with a population of 9,62,789, has a skewed sex ratio of 855. Child marriages in the district are still considered a part of their social life.
- Observing that child marriages are solemnised in the age group of 14-19, and dropouts among girls’ students continued to be high, the district administration launched the Aliva programme in January this year.
- Anganwadi workers had been asked to identify every adolescent girl in their jurisdiction and keep tabs on them.
- There are 1,584 registers available in 1,584 Anganwadi centres of the district.
Child Marriage in India
- The UNICEF 2022 profile estimated that each year, at least 1.5 million girls under 18 get married in India, which makes it home to the most significant number of child brides in the world – accounting for a third of the global total.
- Nearly 16 percent of adolescent girls aged 15-19 are currently married.
- Child marriage is more prevalent in rural areas (48 per cent) than in urban areas (29 per cent).
- According to the National Family Health Survey, 40% of the world’s 60 million child marriages occur in India.
Factors leading to child marriage in India
- Lack of Education:
- A major determinant of marriageable age is education. According to NFHS-4, 45% of women with no education and 40% of women with primary education are married before 18 years of age.
- Social background:
- Child marriages are more prevalent in rural areas and among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
- The poverty of Family:
- Women and female children are often denied equal access to common resources when a family is in poverty.
- Every chance is used for avoiding the burden of female. So poor families naturally resort to child marriage to avoid all sorts of the burden of female child.
- Social Insecurity:
- It is a general perception that a married woman is safer against offences than an unmarried woman.
- To be secure from offences, assaults, and teasing against unmarried girls, parents are in a hasty to give away a girl in marriage soon after she attains puberty or earlier
- Single Parent Families:
- Some of the families are single parent, it compel them to reduce the burden by performing marriage to their below 18 years girl child.
Associated Issues
- Human Rights Violation:
- Child marriage ends childhood. It negatively influences children’s rights to education, health and protection.
- More prone to Health Risks
- Girls who marry at a young age are more likely to be exposed to the health risks of early sexual beginnings and pregnancy, such as HIV and obstetric fistula.
- Increasing Maternal and Child Mortality rate
- The practice of marrying young girls before they are physically mature results in the greatest rates of maternal and child mortality rates.
- Domestic Violence
- Domestic violence, sexual abuse, and social isolation are common among young girls who lack status, power, and maturity.
- Affect Economy
- Child marriage negatively affects the Indian economy and can lead to an intergenerational cycle of poverty.
Steps were taken by the government to prevent child marriages
- The Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929.
- As per the 1929 Act, marriage of girls below the age of 14 years and boys below the age of 18 years was prohibited.
- This Act was amended in 1978 to increase the minimum age to 18 years for females, and 21 years for men.
- Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 replaced the 1929 Act, with the same minimum age limits.
- “Minor” is defined as a person who has not attained the age of majority as per the Majority Act.
- It envisages preventing child marriage with punishments of rigorous imprisonment for two years and/ or a fine of Rs. 1 lakh.
- The Act also provides for the appointment of a Child Marriage Prohibition Officer whose duties are to prevent child marriages and spread awareness regarding the same.
- Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2021
- The Bill was introduced to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 seeks to increase the minimum age of marriage for females to 21 years.
Pic Courtesy: India Today
Content Source: The Hindu