Child brides of tribal Odisha

MARRIAGES OF DOOM

In Odisha’s tribal districts, girls get married when they are barely in their teens. Such early marriages, child pregnancies and the resultant complications are taking a toll on the health of young girls here, writes  Sarada Lahangir

Most homes in the village of Kudumulugumma in Odisha’s Malkangiri district are just mud-plastered huts with thatched roofs. A child emerges from one of them, seeming to play with a doll. When you look closely, you realise, the girl Kalyani — who must be in her mid-teens — is holding a six-month-old baby. Her child-like form, wrapped in a sari that seems too big for her, wanders around listlessly.

Kalyani’s story is tragic even in a region where child marriages are an accepted practice. An orphan left in the care of her grandmother, she was married at nine to a boy who was about three years older. Before she delivered the child she now holds in her arms, she had gone through two pregnancies that ended in miscarriages. Today, her baby boy is severely malnourished, and Kalyani cannot breast feed him because she herself is so weak.

There are many women in tribal Odisha whose lives follow a similar pattern. Take Laxmi Khara, 20, a Paraja tribal from Nandapur village of Koraput district. She got married in 2007 when she was 15. In early 2009, she gave birth to twin girls who died within a few days of their birth. Her next pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Today, she is the mother of a toddler, but both mother and child appear highly malnourished. Saigeeta, the village anganwadi worker, keeps advising her to eat better. “Laxmi is the youngest daughter-in-law in the family so she is used to eating last. I keep telling her that she isn’t eating enough,” says Saigeeta.

While travelling in Odisha’s tribal belt of Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri, and Nawrangpur districts, one comes across innumerable Kalyanis and Laxmis, girls who got married when they were still children and are now holding babies in their arms.

According to UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children, 2012, report, over 37 per cent girls in
Odisha marry before they are 18 — the legally sanctioned age — and 13 per cent men get married before they are 21, the legal age of marriage for men. “This has serious repercussions, particularly on the health of young women when we consider child birth,” Shairose Mawji, the chief of UNICEF, Odisha, pointed out.

She referred to the data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), according to which 14 per cent women aged between 15-19 years were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the Survey in 2005-06. According to Mawji, it is lack of education that led to early marriages and motherhood. “Fewer girls than boys attend school — a gap that increases when they grow up. Between the age of 6-10 years, 86 per cent boys and 82 per cent girls attend school. But by the time the children reach the age of 15-17, only 32 per cent boys and 13 per cent girls continue their education,” she has noted in the report.

The noted medical journal, ‘The Lancet’, warns that child marriage can become a crippling medical and social burden to women in India and pose a demographic threat to the entire world. Girls who marry early are twice as likely to have multiple unwanted pregnancies, nearly 50 per cent are more likely to have an abortion and more than six times more likely to seek a sterilisation, compared to their counterparts who marry after the age of 18. Child brides are also at greater risk of getting fistulas as well as other complications of pregnancy.

I came across Chandru Muduli, who had lost his 18-year-old wife Raila, to pregnancy-related complications. He was 30 and Raila just 12, when they got married. The girl suffered abortions twice and her third pregnancy ended in her death. When asked what his late wife ate as part of her daily meals, he said, “She had whatever was available, and sometimes we managed to give her ragi.” His straightforward answer reveals the true story of under-nutrition that marks most diets in this part of the world.

As the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Koraput, Dr Nishi Kant Kar is familiar with the scenario that Chandru Muduli drew up. Says Dr Kar, “The recommended caloric intake for women is about 1,750 to 2,000 calories per day, which should include 20 per cent protein and 15 to 20 per cent fat. It is advisable for expectant mothers to consume 300 extra calories per day, while lactating mothers require about 550 extra calories at the initial stage, which can gradually come down to around 400 extra calories per day. But the average tribal woman consumes less than 1000 calories per day whether or not she is pregnant or feeding her baby. This leads to severe anemia and other complications.”

According to Dr Kar, his department is trying its best to raise levels of awareness about better food practices among the villagers, especially pregnant women, in this region, through its network of anganwadi workers and Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs).
Poor nutrition and early marriage lead to a particularly dangerous set of circumstances. Says a Malkangiri-based doctor, Anuj Padhi, “In a child marriage, the individuals involved are not yet ready, either physically, mentally or emotionally, to take on the responsibilities of adult life. Child marriage also threatens the health of the young mother; a girl giving birth at 15 is five times more likely to die in the process of giving birth than a girl of 19 or older, and her infant is 60 per cent more likely to succumb as well.”

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, was passed following an order from the Supreme Court of India. Under this Act, which came into force in 2007, all the states in the country were directed to frame rules as expeditiously as possible. The Act prescribes two years’ rigorous imprisonment or a penalty of Rs 1 lakh, or both, for those guilty of marrying girls aged below 18. Under the Orissa Prohibition of Child Marriage Rules, 2009, the state was supposed to appoint child marriage prohibition officers in all the 30 districts. These officers were required to create awareness on the issue, prevent the solemnisation of child marriages and lodge cases at the local police station should such marriages take place. Additionally, the local district magistrate was also deemed to be the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer, with powers to prevent the solemnisation of mass child marriages.

The law, unfortunately, still remains unimplemented in many tribal districts of the state. While mass child marriages — such as those seen in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — do not take place here, many girls end up getting married in their early teens, when they should be in school.

According to social activist, Sanjit Patnaik, director of the South Orissa Voluntary Action (SOVA), ending child marriage will continue to remain challenging because even parents who are aware of its negative impacts find it difficult to resist the heavy weight of tradition. “Besides, there are economic and social pressures as well. Clearly, the law alone won’t work. It requires a change in the psyche of the communities here who constitute some of the most backward and illiterate in the country.”

He is of the opinion that educating and empowering the women of the region, is the best way to address the issue of child marriages.