According to a report by 'Just Rights for Children', child marriage among girls in India has decreased by 69% and among boys by 72%. According to this report, child marriage among girls in Assam has registered a decline of 84%.
- According to a report by 'Just Rights for Children', a network of more than 250 NGOs working for child protection, child marriage among girls in India has decreased by 69% and among boys by 72%.
- During a program of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the report 'Tipping Point to Zero: Evidence Towards a Child Marriage Free India' was released. It has been prepared by the Center for Legal Action and Behavior Change for Children (C-LAB).
Key facts of the Just Rights for Children Report
- Child marriage among girls in Assam has registered a decline of 84%, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar (70% each), Rajasthan (66%), and Karnataka (55%).
- Karnataka has recorded the fastest decline in child marriage in the country. In the last three years, cases of child marriage among girls have declined by 55% and among boys by 88%.
- Poverty (91%) is the most prominent cause of child marriage; in Assam 95%, Rajasthan 91%, Bihar and Maharashtra 90% each, and Karnataka 87% people identified it as the cause of child marriage.
- Additionally, 44% of respondents cited early marriage as a measure to provide security to young girls; 53% in Assam and Bihar, 42% in Karnataka, 39% in Rajasthan, and 34% in Maharashtra held it responsible for this.
- The "purity" of young girls was cited as a reason; in Rajasthan 45% and in Bihar 39% reported early marriage, while in Karnataka 22% and in Assam 21% linked it to preventing premarital pregnancy.
Just Rights for Children Report Key highlights
- In terms of education, the report found that in 31% of villages surveyed, all girls aged 6-18 were attending school, but there were major disparities with Bihar at 9% and Maharashtra at 51%.
- Poverty (88%), lack of infrastructure (47%), safety (42%), and lack of transportation (24%) were identified as barriers to girls' education. Causes of child marriage included poverty (91%), providing security to underage girls (44%), and traditions and norms.
- This report is based on regional data from 757 villages across five states, selected regionally to represent India’s diverse social and cultural contexts and adopting multi-stage stratified random sampling (MST).
- Frontline service providers such as ASHA, Anganwadi workers, school teachers, auxiliary nurse midwives, and members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) were contacted to collect village-level data.
Major efforts
- Chhattisgarh (Jashpur): The volunteer-based campaign "Jai-Ho" demonstrated multi-sectoral convergence.
- Odisha: The "Child Marriage Free Village" initiative was successfully expanded, with 12,407 villages declaring themselves child marriage free by January 2022.
Initiatives to end child marriage in India
- Enactment of the 'Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006': It prohibits the marriage of girls below the age of 18 and boys below the age of 21.
- Globally, the UNFPA-UNICEF Global Programme to End Child Marriage (GPECM), launched in March 2016, promotes adolescent girls’ rights and works to prevent child marriage, child unions, and forced marriages.
