NEW DELHI: Launching a nationwide campaign- “Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan” with the aim to free the country of the menace of child marriage, minister for women and child development Annpurna Devi on Wednesday highlighted that available data shows that about two lakh child marriages were prevented in the past one year.
“In our country today, one in every five girls is married before the age of 18. Child marriage is one of the most severe forms of human rights violations and is also a criminal offense under the law,” Devi said to drive home the need to fight the menace in campaign mode even as she highlighted the progress India has made and contributed significantly to the sharp global decline in child marriage rates observed in South Asia. As per the National Family Health Survey-5 the prevalence of child marriage stands at 23.3% in 2019-21. This was 26.8% in 2015–16 and 47.4% in 2005–06.
The minister also urged states to prepare action plans that can contribute to bring down prevalence rates of child marriage to below 5% by 2029. The WCD minister said the nationwide campaign aims to also bring special focus on high burden states and districts and go down to the villages to combat the problem.
The minister also launched a national platform – “Child Marriage Free Bharat Portal” where going forward people will be able to register their complaints pertaining to child marriage and these will be directed straight to the concerned child marriage prohibition officer (CMPOs) anywhere in the country.
All states have been directed to log-on to the portal and register the CMPOs so that there is real time monitoring of cases. The WCD ministry plans to assign nodal officers at the Centre for monitoring the portal. The minister also said that the “Abhiyan” is not a sporadic one time campaign but an exercise that will continue with the aim to eradicate child marriage.
Drawing from NFHS-5 data seven high burden states – West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Tripura, Assam and Andhra Pradesh and nearly 300 districts where prevalence of child marriage is higher than the national average will be in focus under the outreach campaign.
“Figures also reveal that nearly 2 lakh child marriages have been prevented in a single year. Additionally, a United Nations report states that the most significant global decline in child marriage rates has been observed in South Asian countries, with India playing a crucial role in this achievement,” she said drawing from available data and reasearch.
The national campaign comes in the backdrop of the Supreme Court judgement of october 18 that has emphasised the need for a “whole of govt and whole of society” approach to combat child marriage and bring a cultural shift. WCD ministry officials said that in pursuance of the visions setout by the SC, the the national campaign seeks to ensure implementation of the Prohibition of the Child Marriage Act 2006 and secure the rights of the girls.