{"id":78939,"date":"2025-12-21T10:44:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T05:14:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=78939"},"modified":"2025-12-22T15:27:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T09:57:41","slug":"child-marriage-in-india-trends-regional-gaps-laws-and-the-road-to-2030","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/child-marriage-in-india-trends-regional-gaps-laws-and-the-road-to-2030\/","title":{"rendered":"Child Marriage in India: Trends, Regional Gaps, Laws and the Road to 2030"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Child Marriage in India Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union government launched a 100-day awareness drive to mark one year of the <\/span><b>Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat Abhiyan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, reaffirming India\u2019s pledge to end child marriage by 2030.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While child marriage has declined over the past decade, progress remains uneven across States and socio-economic groups, leaving substantial gaps to meet the UN target.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Global Push to End Child Marriage: Targets, Stakes, and Slow Progress<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ending child marriage is central to <\/span><b>SDG 5<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on gender equality, with <\/span><b>Target 5.3<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> aiming to eliminate child, early, and forced marriages.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Target 5.3 is to eliminate all harmful practices, including child marriage, as well as early and forced marriages, and female genital mutilation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Progress is measured by the share of women aged 20\u201324 married before 18.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Experts warns that failure to end child marriage will derail at least nine SDGs, spanning poverty, health, education, economic growth, climate action, and peace.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2023, UNICEF estimated <\/span><b>64 crore women worldwide<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were married as children, with India accounting for one-third.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At current rates, progress must accelerate 20-fold to meet the 2030 goal.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Child Marriage in India: Progress, Plateaus, and Persistent Inequalities<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Sharp Decline, Slower Momentum<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; India reduced child marriage significantly from 47.4% (2005\u201306) to 26.8% (2015\u201316), a steep 21-point fall. However, progress slowed thereafter, declining only to 23.3% by 2019\u201321.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Wide Regional Variations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Rates remain highest in West Bengal (42%), Bihar (40%), and Tripura (39%), with several other States above the national average. In contrast, Lakshadweep, J&amp;K, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Nagaland report the lowest prevalence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Education and Income Gaps<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Child marriage is strongly linked to socio-economic status. Nearly half of girls with no education marry before 18, compared to just 4% with higher education. Similarly, 40% of girls from the poorest households marry early, against 8% from the richest quintile.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Tackling Child Marriage in India: Laws, Campaigns, and Social Change<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India enacted the <\/span><b>Prevention of Child Marriage Act, 2006<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, after which child marriage rates halved.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 2012 further strengthened protection.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, experts stress that laws alone are insufficient without changing social norms\u2014especially by expanding girls\u2019 education, the most effective factor in delaying marriage.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat Abhiyan: On-Ground Action<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the campaign, 54,917 <\/span><b>Child Marriage Prevention Officers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have been appointed nationwide.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In one year, 1,520 child marriages were prevented through persuasion or administrative action, with Madhya Pradesh and Haryana leading.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, 198 cases could not be stopped, requiring police or child welfare intervention.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The campaign also works with faith leaders, youth groups, and community networks to encourage reporting and shift attitudes at the grassroots.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Girls\u2019 Empowerment and Welfare Schemes<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Beti Bachao Beti Padhao<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> scheme focuses on improving child sex ratio and girls\u2019 education, though implementation has been uneven.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Complementary measures include financial incentives (<\/span><b>Laadli schemes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), improved school sanitation, and cycles for safe travel, aimed at keeping girls in school longer.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>State-Level Incentives: Mixed Signals<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some States support girls\u2019 education through targeted aid.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, West Bengal\u2019s <\/span><b>Kanyashree scheme<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> provides annual support to girls aged 13\u201318 and a lump sum for those delaying marriage and pursuing higher education.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some women\u2019s activists argue that the State with the highest child marriage rates is sending a confusing message through the <\/span><b>Rupashree<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> scheme.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the scheme gives \u20b925,000 to poor families only if the daughter is over 18, offering money at the time of marriage may still encourage early marriages instead of delaying them further.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Debate on Raising the Legal Age of Marriage for Women<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Centre has proposed increasing the minimum marriage age for women to <\/span><b>21 years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, aligning it with men to support higher education, skill development, economic independence, and better maternal and child health.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the proposal has faced opposition seeking deeper scrutiny.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critics caution that without parallel social reforms, the change could criminalise large sections of society, as <\/span><b>61% of women <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aged 20\u201324 were married before turning 21.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/where-does-india-stand-on-child-marriage-explained\/article70420642.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TH<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unicef.org\/india\/what-we-do\/end-child-marriage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UNICEF<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Child marriage in India has declined but remains uneven across States. Know trends, causes, laws, schemes, and why meeting the 2030 UN target remains difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":79053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[4335,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-78939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-child-marriage-in-india","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}