Child marriages in India

09.01.2024

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Why in the news? 

According to the recent study on child marriage in India which is published in the Lancet noted the overall decrease in child marriage across the country.

Key Points

•  The report pointed out that four States, mainly Bihar (16.7%), West Bengal (15.2%), Uttar Pradesh (12.5%), and Maharashtra (8.2%) accounted for more than half of the total headcount burden of child marriages in girls.

Child Marriage

• Child marriage, a practice found in certain societies, particularly in India, typically involves two distinct forms.
• The first form is where a young child, often a girl under eighteen, is married off to an adult man.

○This form is more direct and immediate in its execution.

• The second form is more of a future arrangement: parents of a young girl and boy agree to marry their children to each other when they both reach a more suitable age.

○ In this latter case, the boy and girl usually do not meet until the time of their wedding ceremony.

• This practice, deeply rooted in cultural and social norms, often raises significant concerns regarding the rights and welfare of the children involved.

What are the key findings?

• The paper titled ‘Prevalence of girl and boy child marriage across States and Union Territories in India, 1993–2021: a repeated cross­sectional study’ signifies that one in five girls are still married below legal age in India.
• The largest absolute increase in headcount was observed in the state of West Bengal that is an increase of 32.3% in headcount.
• Child marriage particularly girl child marriage has posed a critical challenge for policy­makers in West Bengal for decades.
• The National Family Health Survey carried out in 2019­-20, points out that the women aged 20­24 years who were married before the age of 18 years in the state of West Bengal remains one of the highest in the country at 41.6%.
• The percentage was the same also during the National Family Health Survey­ 4.
• The all­India figure of women aged 20­24 years getting married before they turn 18 is marked at 23.3%.

What have been the policy interventions?

• The West Bengal government has made a number of policy changes to stop child marriage.
• Kanyashree Prakalpa which is launched in October 2013, is a conditional cash transfer scheme and is aimed at incentivising the schooling of all teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 18, and simultaneously discouraging child marriage.
• The scheme has completed almost 10 years and was recognised at an international level with a United Nations Public Service Award 2017.
• The West Bengal Budget for the year 2023-­24 said the scheme has covered nearly 81 lakh girls.
• Along with Kanyashree, the State government also has cash incentive schemes for marriage of girls in the name of ‘Rupashree Prakalpa’.

                                                                   Source:The Hindu