JOIN USThe Rajasthan government has been making tall claims to curb child marriages in the state but there has been no long term strategy in place to check the social evil.
Even on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, which is frequently marked by child marriages in the state, senior officials in the government were least bothered to monitor campaigns run by local administration to curb child marriages.
The occasion of Akshaya Tritiya on Tuesday was marked by strong rumours about local administration preventing child marriage in various parts of the state, but none of the officials in the state government had any related information.
Additional Chief Secretary of Women and Child Welfare Department Gurjot Kaur was completely unaware about the happenings of the day. When asked about the number of child marriages stopped by the local administration in the state, Gurjot Kaur said, “I cannot tell anything because I am on leave.”
Interestingly, officials deputed with Anita Badel, Minister for Women and Child Welfare Department, said there is no mechanism in place even to monitor the status of child marriages stopped by local administration on Akshaya Tritiya. The entire exercise of curbing child marriage is at the disposal of local level officials. Over the question of drafting a long-term strategy to check child marriages in the state, most of the related departments held other government departments responsible for it and no one was ready to take charge.
Officials in the Women and Child Welfare Department claimed that its Social Justice Department is responsible for preparing a long-term strategy to curb child marriages while officials in the Social Justice Department too shifted the blame of the Women and Child Welfare Department.
“Long-term strategy is the need of the hour because child marriages take place throughout the year in Rajasthan. Unfortunately local administration runs the campaign only on Akshaya Tritiya and remains silent for rest of the year,” said Kirti Bharti, a social worker fighting against child marriages in Rajasthan.
There were reports that several villagers in Bhilwara district tried to solemnise marriage of kids in deep forest and fields. The isolated venues were chosen to evade police. A few such marriages were caught by police on Tuesday.
A case came to the fore in Rajsamand district when a sarpanch and a few members of the panchayat were found involved in conducting child marriage in their own family.