Though there are laws prohibiting child marriage in India, it is still a bane in the country. Several minor girls are given in marriage to older men specially, in the villages. Many videos are doing the rounds on the social media showing how these illegal marriages are being solemnized. Among the various reasons why child marriage is prevalent in rural India are poverty, lack of education, insecurity, financial constraints, unawareness of the laws and inadequate implementation of the existing laws.
The concept of child marriage has been prohibited by the Indian Constitution through various laws and enactments. As a matter of fact child marriage is prevalent all across the globe, specially, in Africa and South Asia. Child marriage violates the rights of a child. The decision is taken by adults and the child has no say in it. This needs to be seen as an abuse of human rights since even little children have rights. Early marriage can have profound physical as well as psychological negative impact on the child who is forced to marry. It is encouraging to note that UNICEF has joined hands with NGOs and government organizations to eradicate the rampant practice of child marriage. It is understood that several brave girls of Purulia in West Bengal, aided by UNICEF have fought off marital atrocities to return to the world of books and lead by example. As per statistics in Purulia almost 38 percent of young girls get married before the age of 18. These are very disturbing figures indeed.
The main reason being that the female literacy rate in the district is as low as 50 per cent. There are a number of women empowerment programs in the country but the poor execution of the government policies has meant that the women have remained backwards. Girls are bringing a lot of laurels for the country internationally, specially, in the field of sports. A shining example is Hima Das, the athlete who has gained world-wide recognition and by the giant of sports goods manufacturers, Adidas. Girls need to be given an opportunity to pursue their dreams. Many would like to become doctors and engineers. Others would like to start their own business ventures or even join the police force of the defence academy.
If a girl child forced to marry, all her dreams will be shattered. We need to save the girls from this menace of child marriage which is still in existence in our society. Awareness is the key to break from the shackles of this bane of society which also interferes with the development of the nation as the situation has become very pathetic.
