Jan 26 2009
Child Marriage in present days
Earlier I had said why and when Bal Vivaha or child marriage started in India. They are historical theories and reasoning but not the present scenario. Present is what we need to deal with and so a proper knowledge of the situation is necessary before corrective or preventive measures can be taken. Recent reports published by UNICEF , states India having around 50% of the total global cases of child marriages which leads to higher maternal and neonatal death rate in India. The situation is not same everywhere in India though. Urban places have average marriage age around 24 to 25 while in villages in some states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh around 80% of the girls and boys are married before the age of 18, the legal age of marriage.
What are the problems that arise from child marriage?
Most of these young children have to live life with intense burden of maintaining family and doing all the household chores. This is mostly true with the girls as the boys in most of the cases are send to schools and grow up as any other boy of his age. Parents consider these untimely marriages as a blessing. According to them a girl of 12 years of age is ready for marriage and the responsibilities that come with it. The earlier a girl gets married the parents are considered more lucky. Most of the marriages in these cases are not registered as a result these girls are unaware and also devoid of the legal rights, protection and benefits they get from the government and from their family inheritance.
Having child at such an age when the girl herself is nothing more than a teenager disrupts the normal mental development of the child and in many case the child or the mother fails to survive. The increased medical facility for pregnant women doesn’t reach them in most cases as these relatives keep distance from hospitals or any other place where these births or unfortunately deaths can registered as they are punishable under Child Marriage Prevention Act or Human rights Act.How to deal with it?
- Reporting to you local police station at a suspected case of forced or underage marriages
- Providing proper education to girls and boys on child marriage and such issues.
- If laws are there then make sure they are implemented.
- Keeping a regular check on every child of the village by appointing smaller bodies who keeps information on marriages, education and pregnancy of the girls in the villages.
- Lastly spreading awareness and removing caste based discrimination as the practise is more dominant in backward or discriminated castes.
For further reading on these issue you can refer to Childlife.org
That is sad that children are getting married so young. There needs to be more help provided so these kids won’t have to be forced into marriage at young ages.
http://theinformer.today.com
Help can only be provided when the police department awakens and starts doing their duty well.