Checking Child Marriages The Government of India brought into force the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) with effect from 1st November 2007 repealing the Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) of 1929 in order to prohibit child marriages rather than only restraining them. For effective implementation of the Act, State Governments have been requested from time to time to notify rules and appoint Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) under PCMA 2006. As per information provided by States & UTs, 19 States and 6 UTs have framed the Rules and 20 States and 7 UTs have appointed CMPOs. According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3,2005-06) around 46 percentage of women aged 18-29 were married before reaching the legal age of 18. Of these 53.4 percent were in rural areas and 29.7 percent in urban areas. However, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the number of cases registered under Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) 2006 in the year 2010, 2011, 2012 are 60, 113 and 169 respectively. The Ministry has prepared a draft National Plan of Action on Prevention of Child Marriage, interalia focusing on (a) Enforcement of PCMA and related laws (b) Promoting right to quality education with special emphasis on girls (c) Generating change in social norms and attitudes. Besides, requesting the State Governments to take necessary action for effective implementation of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the Government has taken following steps to address the issue of child marriage: i. National Commission for Women (NCW) has requested the State Chief Ministers to sensitize and gear up the concerned machinery of the State Governments against those involved in the incidence of child marriage. ii. Every year, State Governments are requested to take special initiative to delay marriage by coordinated efforts on Akha Teej—the traditional day for such marriages. iii. The Government of India launched SABLA, a Scheme for empowering adolescent girls, in 200 districts of the country on 19th November 2010. The Scheme aims at empowering adolescent girls (11-18 years) by improving their nutritional and health status and upgrading various skills like home skills, life skills and vocational skills etc. and building awareness on various issues. They would also be sensitized towards the importance marriage at the right age. By empowering adolescent girls, the Scheme addresses the issue of child marriage. iv. Workshops, seminars and legal awareness camps are organized in various States by the Ministry and its autonomous institutions to spread awareness and bring attitudinal changes to prevent child marriage. This was stated by Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 16:04:33 +0000
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