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30% girls in Maharashtra are child brides: Study -Meenakshi Rohatgi
-The Times of India


PUNE: Child marriages have decreased since the first National Family Health Survey in 1992-93 when 54% of women between 20 and 24 years were married as children to 47%, at present.

However, almost 40% of the girls in India are still married before the age of 14, according to a report by Dasra in collaboration with the UNICEF and UNFPA.

In Maharashtra, 30-40% of girls were married before they were 18 years old. The state comes after Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, where the incidence is higher.

Sonvi Khanna from Dasra said India accounts for 40% of the world's child marriages, which denies boys and girls their basic rights to a healthy life, to equal opportunities for development, and to protection from abuse and exploitation.

Dasra is a philanthropic organization and works extensively in the social sector, with the government and various NGOs. It helps NGOs and social entrepreneurs get funding and scaling up by connecting them to relevant organizations and the government. It also works with the UNFPA and the UNICEF.

The report titled - 'Marry me later: Preventing Child Marriage and Early Pregnancy in India', states that "Child marriage continues to be immersed in a vicious cycle of poverty, low educational attainment, high incidences of disease, poor sex ratios, the subordination of women, and most significantly the inter-generational cycles of all of these."

The report adds that despite the fact that child marriage as a practice "directly hinders the achievement of six of eight Millennium Development Goals, as an issue, it remains grossly under-funded."

If the present trends continue, of the girls born between 2005 and 2010, 28 million would become child brides over the next 15 years, the report added.

Some panchayats have decided to eliminate child marriages. In Maharashtra, 88 panchayats in Vidarbha have passed a resolution to ban child marriage in their villages. The panchayats are determined to take strict action against those who do not follow the resolution -- 18 families recently cancelled the weddings of their minor daughters.

Khanna said a slew of new measures and new approaches are needed, beginning with sensitizing the decision makers in the family and the community. "Bringing the people who take decisions for these minor girls into the loop and making them aware of the consequences of an under-age marriage is important, since such marriages are solemnized at an age when the minor is incapable of giving consent," she said.

Some NGOs and the Maharashtra government have started using such techniques which can be a model to follow. The state government has launched a child rights and protection movement in the area in association with UNICEF and local non-profit organizations. The campaign to end child marriage gained momentum within this larger movement, states the report.

"We will be following the community closely. Violators will be booked under the provisions of the Act," said Milind Joshi, sarpanch (head of the panchayat) of Tarnoli village, and adds that his panchayat has decided to take action if the resolution is not followed.

"It is important to look at the larger picture and include both - the girl and the boy - affected by the child marriage in discussions and awareness sessions," said Khanna. "Otherwise it becomes extremely hard to bring out the minor girl and to empower her to fight for her rights. In many cases, mothers-in-law of child brides should be sensitized," she added. Such girls are usually "invisible" denied any decision-making powers or independence.

NGOs like Ashish Gram Rachna Trust which works in Pune and Marathwada is using this strategy. The trust organizes and mobilizes communities to become self-reliant and economically independent and works in the backward areas of these regions in Maharashtra.

Other strategies carved out by Dasra to tackle child marriage include creating alternate life options for girls by providing them with education to employment continuum.

"Although we have free education, stress on vocational training should be given so that these girls and their family members can see fruitful alternatives to an early marriage," Khanna said.

Dasra's report also stressed on the need to promote birth and marriage registrations, especially in rural areas. This will be a fool-proof evidence of the girl's age, be helpful in avoiding child marriages and ensure the girl and her family access to welfare schemes.

As part of the efforts to curb child marriage, Dasra has formed a 'Giving Circle' in Maharashtra, with 10 members which will facilitate funding of programmes.