Centre to implement action plan against child marriages

The Centre has been working on an action plan to prevent child marriages, which will come into effect after a national consultation scheduled this week.

Strengthening monitoring at village level and proactive measures by authorities to stop the age-old practice are some of the steps being considered under the plan.  The ministry of Women and Child Development has been drafting the action plan, which will be put through a high level consultation meeting to be chaired by minister Krishna Tirath.

“We have a very stringent law, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, but it is not being implemented properly. We need to device a proper mechanism for that. The draft action plan has included all the best practices that have been adopted in states to stop this unhealthy practice,” a ministry official told Deccan Herald.

The action plan has highlighted the UN Children Fund (UNICEF)-sponsored movement for child rights in West Bengal, which has implemented a village-level monitoring system to track child marriage. The state ranks sixth in the country with 53 per cent child marriages. 

The action plan has also taken into account measures implemented by Rajasthan to prevent child marriage, including mentioning of dates of birth on the wedding invitation.

According to the UN Population Fund, India has the largest number of child marriages in the world. About 47 percent of the girls are married below the age of 18.  Among the states, Bihar tops with 69 per cent child marriages, closely followed by Rajasthan and Jharkhand.