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Halima Afroz Lari

Ms. Arundhati Dey

AEN121

10th July, 2019

Child Marriage: A Recurrent Social Issue

This topic has been taken with reference to the poem “Forest Fire” which is written by

poet “Kamala Das”.

Child marriage in India has been practiced for centuries, with children

married off before their physical and mental maturity. Regardless of its

roots, child marriage constitutes a gross violation of human rights leaving physical,

psychological and emotional scars for life. There are many effects prevailing due to child

marriage. In order to prohibit the child marriage, there several laws in India. The legal age for the

marriage in India is 18 for girls and 21 for boys. The government of India enacted a legislation of

child marriage restraint act 1929 and later replaced by prevention of child marriage act 2006. In

India, there are many regulations preventing the child marriage. The practice of child marriage is

an offence in India according to the legislation. Though the government enacted the preventive

act, the rate of child marriage has not come to an end.

India has the dubious distinction of being home to nearly 40% of all child brides in the

world despite of its adverse consequences like pregnancy related deaths, low child mortality rate

etc. According to the 2001 census there are 1.5 million girls, in India, under the age

of 15 already m a r r i e d . O f t h e s e , 2 0 % o r a p p r o x i m a t e l y 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 a r e m o t h e r s

to at least one child.

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Underage marriages, especially of girls, are rising in urban India and

d e c l i n i n g i n r u r a l I n d i a , a c c o r d i n g t o a n e w a n a l ys i s o f c e n s u s d a t a , b u t

while the immediate reasons are not clear, patriarchy and the continuing

h o l d o f t r a d i t i o n a r e i m p l i c a t e d . In many parts of the world especially underdeveloped

countries parents give consent to child marriages hoping that it would benefit the girl both

economically and socially. This practice is especially common in rural areas and amongst

economically backward families, the daughter is married off at a young age to relieve the family

from her economic responsibilities. Many factors are responsible for this practice, the most

common ones are poverty, protection of girls, family rules and the provision of stability during

unstable social periods, lack of opportunities for girls, lack of awareness about adverse health

consequences another big problem is the lack of awareness of law and also inadequate

implementation of the existing laws.

Poverty is one of the main causes for existence of child marriage.

For many poor families, marrying their daughter at an early age essentially is a strategy for

economic survival; it means one less person to feed, clothe and educate. Another important

reason for existence of child marriage is illiteracy. Little or no schooling strongly correlates with

being married at a young age. Conversely, attending school and having higher levels of

education protect girls from the possibility of early marriage. In many countries, educating girls

often is less of a priority than educating boys. When a woman’s most important role is

considered to be that of a wife, mother and homemaker, schooling girls and preparing them for

the jobs are usually given short shrift. Moreover in many societies, parents are under pressure to

marry off their daughters as early as possible so that they fulfill their religious and societal

expectations and due to the fear of being exploited in their own social group.
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The consequences of child marriage are devastating and often determine a life’s

trajectory. The child is also deprived of his/her childhood which in turn takes the child towards

the path of depression. Child brides also face a higher risk of experiencing dangerous, life-

threatening complications in pregnancy, contracting HIV, and suffering domestic and sexual

violence. Child marriage is a harmful practice that deprives girls of their right to choose if, when,

and whom to marry and what type of family to create. It also deprives girls of their rights to

education, to health, and to live in security.

Prevention of Child Marriages is imperative not merely from the child and human rights

perspective but also in the interest of meeting several national goals and Millennium

Development Goals. It becomes much more imperative to revisit the various laws passed by the

legislature in the past and contextualizing it with respect to the new act intended to prohibit the

practice of 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 finalized. The

government has also used cash incentives, adolescents’ empowerment programs for raising

awareness to encourage behavior change related to child marriage.

We must make sure that children enjoy their childhood and do not carry heavy responsibilities

like that of marriages which are not meant for them at that age. All of us should try to make

people aware about various hazardous consequences of child marriage because eventually

change begins at home itself!

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Works Cited

References: 1. www.scribd.com

2. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

3. www.hindustantimes.com

4. www.girlsnotbrides.org