India has the highest absolute number of child brides in the world – 15,509,000 : UNCIEF

One in three of the world’s child brides live in India. Of the country’s 223 million child brides, 102 million were married before turning 15.

    India has seen massive development across various sectors over the past few years, however, some social evils continue to come in the way of holistic development of the country. While the legal age for marriage is 18 for women (and 21 for men), as per the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) of 2006, the law is often violated in the rural society and backward areas of the country. The PCMA specifies punishments for those who encourage child marriages and Child Marriage Prohibition Officers work to address this crime.  However, India needs the support of the society in order to bring a societal change and change the lives of the minor girls hailing from backward areas of the country.

The practise of child marriage is less common today than in previous generations but there is evidence of accelerating progress over the last decade.

                                (Go through this Video To understand their Pain In their Voice)

India ranks fourth among the eight South Asian countries in terms of child marriage prevalence

India has the most cases of child marriage 

    It’s shocking that even today over 47% of minor girls in India get married before the age of 18, which makes India home to the highest number of child brides in the world. Bihar and Rajasthan are the most backward states as they have the highest number of child marriages in the country. While the number of girls getting married before the age of 15 is decreasing, sadly more girls aged between 15 and 18 are getting married off. 

The majority of young women who married in childhood gave birth as adolescents. Child brides go on to have larger families compared to women who marry later.

 Number of girls and women who were first married or in union before age 18, by state

 

Reasons for Child Marriage

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys. In India, child marriage is also driven by:

• Poverty: Child marriage is more common among poorer households, with many families marrying off their daughters to reduce their perceived economic burden. Girls are often married off at a younger age because less dowry is expected for a younger bride 
• Betrothal: Some girls are promised in marriage before they are born in order to “secure” their future. Once they reach puberty, guana or “send-off” ceremonies take place and they are sent to their husband’s home to commence married life.
• Level of education: Many families consider girls to be "paraya dhan – someone else’s wealth". This means that a girl’s productive capacities benefit her marital family, and educating daughters is therefore seen as less of a priority than educating sons, who are responsible for taking care of biological parents in old age.
• Household labour: Girls are often married off at puberty when they are deemed most ‘productive’ and can take care of children and conduct housework. The labour of young brides is central to some rural economies. The practice of "Atta Satta" sees two extended families exchange girls through marriage so neither family is worse off in terms of household labour.
• Traditional customs: Customary laws based on religion are a major barrier in ending child marriage in India. Social pressure to marry at puberty can be enormous within certain castes.
• Gender norms: There is generally a lower value attached to daughters, and girls are expected to be adaptable, docile, hardworking and talented wives. Child marriages are sometimes used to control female sexuality, sanctify sex and ensure reproduction.
• Pre-marital sex: Marriage is used to preserve the purity of girls as soon as they reach puberty and, sometimes, to ensure that they are not “corrupted” by men of lower castes. There is a high premium placed on virginity, and as such, it is sometimes considered more punya (holy) to marry off younger girls. Fathers sometimes lose credibility within communities if their daughters have sex or get married without their consent. Differentiation is made between jaangdaan (when a girl is so young she can sit on her father’s lap during a marriage ceremony) and pattaldaan (when she has attained puberty and can sit on a pedestal beside her father).
• Violence against girls: Some girls are married off due to fear of kharab mahaul – the corrupted external environment – and reports of the rape of women in public spaces. However, a 2014 study found that child brides in India are at greater risk of sexual and physical violence within their marital home.

Child marriage is less common among boys than girls, and the practice among boys could be eliminated by 2030 if progress is accelerated

Impact of child marriage on the child

• Early maternal deaths Girls who marry earlier in life are less likely to be informed about reproductive issues, and because of this, pregnancy-related deaths are known to be the leading cause of mortality among married girls between 15 and 19 years of age. These girls are twice more likely to die in childbirth than girls between 20 and 24 years of age. Girls younger than 15 years of age are 5 times more likely to die in childbirth.

• Infant health Infants born to mothers under the age of 18 are 60% more likely to die in their first year than to mothers over the age of 19. If the children survive, they are more likely to suffer from low birth weight, malnutrition, and late physical and cognitive development.

• Fertility outcomes A study conducted in India by the International Institute for Population Sciences and Macro International in 2005 and 2006 showed high fertility, low fertility control, and poor fertility outcomes data within child marriages. 90.8% of young married women reported no use of a contraceptive prior to having their first child. 23.9% reported having a child within the first year of marriage. 17.3% reported having three or more children over the course of the marriage. 23% reported rapid repeat childbirth, and 15.2% reported an unwanted pregnancy. 15.3% reported a pregnancy termination (stillbirths, miscarriages or abortions). Fertility rates are higher in slums than in urban areas.

• Violence Young girls in a child marriage are more likely to experience domestic violence in their marriages as opposed to older women. A study conducted in India by the International Centre for Research on Women showed that girls married before 18 years of age are twice as likely to be beaten, slapped, or threatened by their husbands and three times more likely to experience sexual violence. Young brides often show symptoms of sexual abuse and post-traumatic stress.

Government’s efforts

• India has committed to eliminating child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. The government did not provide an update on progress towards this target during its Voluntary National Review at the 2017 High-Level Political Forum.
• India acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1993, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to the marriage.
• India is a focus country of the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, a multi-donor, a multi-stakeholder programme working across 12 countries over four years.
• India is also a member of the South Asian Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC), which adopted a regional action plan to end child marriage from 2015 – 2018.
• Representatives of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), including India, asserted the Kathmandu Call to Action to End Child Marriage in Asia in 2014. As part of its commitment, India will ensure access to legal remedies for child brides and establish a uniform minimum legal age of marriage of 18.
• During its 2017 Universal Periodic Review, India agreed to consider recommendations to improve enforcement of legal provisions against child marriage.
• In 2014 the CEDAW Committee raised concerns about high school dropout rates among young girls in India, making them particularly vulnerable to child marriage.
• A National Action Plan to prevent child marriages was drafted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2013 but has not yet been finalised. Key components include law enforcement, changing mindsets and social norms, empowering adolescents, quality education and sharing knowledge. However due to its decentralised governance structure, in recent years there has been greater movement at the state level in terms of the development of state-level action plans. Whilst some states have taken limited action, Rajasthan launched a Strategy and Action Plan for the Prevention of Child Marriage in March 2017.
• The government has also used cash incentives (such as the Dhan Laxmi scheme and the Apni beti apna dhun programme), adolescents’ empowerment programmes (Kishori Shakti Yojana) and awareness-raising to encourage behaviour change related to child marriage.

(Must Watch: No to Child Marriages)

India’s progress is strong compared to other countries in South Asia. Nonetheless, if child marriage is to be eliminated by 2030, additional efforts will be required.

@N.Ramchander

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