What is Indian Government doing to prevent Child Marriage?

The first social reform issue which was taken up by the organized women in India was the “Child Marriage Restraint Act”, or the “Sharda Act” od 1929. Its goal was to eliminate the dangers placed on young girls who could not handle the stress of married life and avoid early deaths. This act prohibited marriage involving girls below the age of 15 years old, and boys below 18. 

Although this is a victory for the women's movement in India, the act itself was a complete failure. In the two years and five months it was an active bill, there were 473 prosecutions, of which only 167 were successful. The Act remained a dead letter during the colonial period of British rule in India, and this was largely due to the fact that the colonial British government did nothing to propagate awareness of it, especially in smaller towns and villages of India.

In 1978, the law was amended to make it more effective and raise the minimum age of marriage by three years: from 15 to 18 years in case of girls and from 18 to 21 years in case of boys.

To ensure that child marriage is eradicated from within the society, the Government of India enacted the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 replacing the earlier legislation of Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA, 2006) was notified to overcome the constraints of the former legislations in effectively dealing with the problem of child marriages in India and to put in place a comprehensive mechanism, and still exists as the primary legislation dealing with child marriage today.

The PCMA applies to all citizens of India regardless of religion, with exceptions for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Pondicherry.Under the PCMA:

• The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 makes it illegal for girls to marry under 18 years and for boys under 21 years. Child marriage can be made voidable by the child but within two years of becoming an adult.

• Child marriage is a punishable offence with a fine up to INR 100,000, or up to two years of imprisonment, or both. It is a non-cognizable and non-bailable offence.

• Dowry was prohibited in 1961 by the Dowry Prohibition Act, with a fine up to INR 15,000, or the dowry amount, whichever is higher, and imprisonment for between six months and five years.

Other laws that may provide protection to a child bride include the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The government has also used adolescents’ empowerment programmes (Kishori Shakti Yojana), awareness-raising to encourage behaviour change related to child marriage and cash incentives (such as theDhanLaxmi scheme and the Apnibetiapnadhun programme).

DID APNI BETI APNA DHAN HELP PREVENT CHILD MARRIAGE? In a nutshell, not really. Although the programme gave families an incentive to keep their daughters in school until the 8^th grade, ICRW found that it had no effect on girls getting married before 18.

Only a small proportion of girls (14%) were married when the programme was evaluated. Most telling, there was no significant difference between girls who took part in ApniBeti Apna Dhan and those who didn’t. The programme accompanied a shift that was already happening in the state of Haryana – girls staying in school longer and delaying marriage – but did not cause the change.

On the contrary, the programme may have encouraged families to marry off their daughters once they turned 18. Girls whose families benefited from the conditional cash transfers were 59% more likely to be married once they turned 18 than girls who hadn’t participated. In fact, many families waited to cash in the money at the end of the programme as they saw it a way to cover their daughter’s marriage and dowry expenses.

Yet just as there is a lack in government ability to transform policy into action, so is there a potential for NGOs to fill this gap with information.HEEALS(Health, Education, Environment And Livelihood Society), is an organization directly involved in girls education and child marriage in India. It is working on Water Sanitation, Menstrual Hygiene and Children Education projects in seven states. Through spreading education on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and organizing WASH and MH workshop, HEEALS is working to increase the attendance rates of girls in schools who drop out from school due to child marriage. HEEALS works in marginalized communities, slum schools, schools in unauthorized colonies, orphanages and refugee camps to increase the attendance rates of pupils in schools who leave their studies, reduce the number of diseases and deaths and improve the health of people across Indian society.

Caterina

WASH & Children Health Education

Coordinator

REFERENCES:

·         Goswami, Ruchira (2010). "Child Marriage in India: Mapping the Trajectory of Legal Reforms".

·         Wikipedia – Child Marriage in India, Child Marriage Restrain Act of 1929

·         http://childlineindia.org.in/pdf/Child-Marriage-handbook.pdf

·         https://www.unicef.org/rosa/sites/unicef.org.rosa/files/2018-03/EndingChildMarriage-India.pdf

·         https://govinfo.me/apni-beti-apna-dhan-yojana-haryana/

·         https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/economic-incentives-enough-prevent-child-marriage-findings-haryana-india/

Why Child Marriage is happening in India?

Child marriage in India, according to the Indian law, is a marriage where either the woman is below age 18 or the man is below age 21. Most child marriages involve underage women, many of whom are in poor socio-economic conditions.

Yet, recent data indicates that in the last decade there has been a significant decline in the prevalence of child marriage from 47 per cent to 27 per cent of the proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married before age 18 from 2005/2006 to 2015/2016. National and state averages, however, mask realities at the district level, and despite the overall decline, a few districts continue to have very high rates of child marriage. Indeed, India has the largest number of brides in the world – one-third of the global total. (Child marriage rates among women in a few districts of Rajasthan and Bihar, continue to be in the range of 47 per cent to 51 per cent).

There are many causes of child marriage in India and multiple barriers to its elimination. Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys. In India, child marriage is also driven by:

·       Poverty: Child marriage is more common among poorer households, with many families marrying off their daughters to reduce their perceived economic burden. Girls are often married off at a younger age because less dowry is expected for younger brides.

·      Betrothal: Some girls are promised in marriage before they are born in order to “secure” their future. Once they reach puberty, ceremonies take place and they are sent to their husband’s home to commence married life.

·       Level of education: Many families consider girls to be parayadhan – someone else’s wealth. This means that a girl’s productive capacities benefit her marital family, and educating daughters is therefore seen as less of a priority than educating sons, who are responsible for taking care of biological parents in old age.

·      Household labour: Girls are often married off at puberty when they are deemed most ‘productive’ and can take care of children and conduct housework. The labour of young brides is central to some rural economies. The practice of attasatta sees two extended families exchange girls through marriage so neither family is worse off in terms of household labour.

·     Traditional customs: Customary laws based on religion are a major barrier in ending child marriage in India. Social pressure to marry at puberty can be enormous within certain castes.

·     Gender norms: There is generally a lower value attached to daughters, and girls are expected to be adaptable, docile, hardworking and talented wives. Child marriages are sometimes used to control female sexuality, sanctify sex and ensure reproduction.

·     Pre-marital sex: Marriage is used to preserve the purity of girls as soon as they reach puberty and, sometimes, to ensure that they are not “corrupted” by men of lower castes. There is a high premium placed on virginity, and as such it is sometimes considered more punya (holy) to marry off younger girls. Fathers sometimes lose credibility within communities if their daughters have sex or get married without their consent. Differentiation is made between jaangdaan (when a girl is so young she can sit on her father’s lap during a marriage ceremony) and pattaldaan (when she has attained puberty and can sit on a pedestal beside her father).

   Violence against girls: Some girls are married off due to fear of kharabmahaul – the corrupted external environment – and reports of the rape of women in public spaces. However, a 2014 study found that child brides in India are at greater risk of sexual and physical violence within their marital home.

HEEALS (Health, Education, Environment And Livelihood Society), is an organization directly involved in girls education and health in India. It is working on Water Sanitation, Menstrual Hygiene and Children Education projects in seven states. Through spreading education on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and organizing WASH and MH workshop, HEEALS is working to increase the attendance rates of girls in schools who drop out from school due to child marriage. HEEALS works in marginalized communities, slum schools, schools in unauthorised colonies, orphanages and refugee camps to increase the attendance rates of pupils in schools who leave their studies, reduce the number of diseases and deaths and improve the health of people across Indian society.

-Caterina

WASH & Children Health Education

Coordinator

REFERENCES:

·         UNICEF India Final report 2018

·         International Institute for Population Sciences and Macro International, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015-16: State Fact Sheet for Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya, Maharashtra, Odisha, Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, IIPS, Mumbai, 2016.

·         https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/child-marriage/india/#stats-references

·         UNICEF-UNFPA, Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage, 2017, (accessed February 2018)

Child bride in India !

I grew up in a country where some children dream of their wedding day; The dress, the location, and the dancing all seem like components of a magical day that signifies spending the rest of your life with the person of your dreams. I also grew up in a country where some children do not; Instead, they dream careers, or adventures, or education, or family. The nuances of what marriage means is less important as the main difference here: In much of the Western world, we have a choice of who we marry, and when we marry. Yet, for over a quarter of children living in India, this is not the case.

As HEEALS is an organization that seeks to empower local Indian communities in the sector of health, education, environment and livelihood, we thought it would be appropriate to focus a blog post on a prominent issue that has an effect on almost all of these areas: Child Marriage. This post will focus on defining child marriage, exploring its justifications and impacts, analyzing what the government has/is doing to stop it, where the government is lacking, and finally, where third-party organizations have a potential to bridge this gap.

Child marriage is defined as a marriage to which either of the contracting party is a child; For girls, a child is considered one below the age of 18, and for boys, a child is considered one below the age of 21.

Child marriage is something that is ingrained in societies worldwide, and the justifications for this inhumane practice can range. For some, the reasoning for child marriage could be cultural, in that it is justified by traditional patriarchal attitudes that see the female child as a burden to be married off as soon as possible. For others, the decision could be economical; Some parents see child marriage as a route to secure the female child’s economic future. In addition, from an economic perspective, many still participate in the act of giving and receiving dowries, despite the illegality as of 1961. In this sense, a dowry is less expensive relative to the youthful age of a female bride, encouraging early marriage. Finally, another common belief suggest that child marriage is a protection for girls against unwanted male attention and promiscuity, though in reality, child marriage opens the door to cycles of sexual, mental and emotional abuse. From this perspective, child marriage is seen as a way to ensure chastity and virginity of the bride.

Regardless of the various justifications for child marriage, the impacts of this practice are detrimental all the same. Physically, child marriage is cited as a prime cause for high maternal and infant mortality, as well as inter-generational cycles of malnutrition. Child marriage exposes young girls to early motherhood, reproductive tract infections, STIs, HIV/AIDs and other health complications. It provides the legal sanction for engaging in sexual activity and procreation, amounting to sanction for sexual abuse and rape. In extreme cases, female foeticide results in the buy-in of young brides, particularly in states with a skewed sex ratio; some girls are victims of “fake marriages”, after which they are trafficked for either sexual exploitation or for labour. From a psychological perspective, child marriage leads to a sudden decline in social networks for young girls, with such social isolation posing challenges to promote their own health, development and well-being. On top of this, it imposes social and decision making roles for children who are not mentally or emotionally prepared, preventing them from obtaining education in the meantime. As a whole, the practice of child marriage is a blatant violation of rights to care and protection, basic rights to good health, nutrition, education, freedom from violence, abuse and exploitation.

The first measure taken by the Indian government in preventing child marriage was the “Child Marriage Restraint Act” (CMRA), or the “Sharda Act” of 1929. This act prohibited marriage involving girls below the age of 15 years old, and boys below 18. Amendments to the CMRA in 1978 sought to make the act more effective, as well as to raise the minimum marriageable age by three years (18 for girls, 21 for boys). The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) was established in 2006 to overcome constraints in the former legislation in effectively dealing with the problem of child marriage, and still exists as the primary legislation dealing with child marriage today. The PCMA applies to all citizens of India regardless of religion, with exceptions for the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Pondicherry.

Under the PCMA, child marriage is an offence punishable with imprisonment of up to 2 years, or a fine of $100,000 (1 Lakh), or both. Those who can be punished under this law include: whoever performs, conducts or directs child marriage, a male adult above 18 marrying a child, or anyone having charge of the child at the time. Child marriages are voidable and can be annulled when sought within a period of 2 years after the child becomes a majority, or, if a minor, when filed through a guardian. The PCMA also specifies that the adult husband (or guardian of husband if a minor) must pay marriage to the minor girl until her remarriage. The legislation designates the role of Child Marriage Prevention Officers (CMPOs), empowered to provide all possible aid to children affected by child marriages.

In addition to the PCMA (2006), other laws that may provide protection to a  child bride include the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (2000), The Domestic Violence Act (2005) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (2012).

Despite the PCMA having been implemented to overcome constraints in the former CMRA, government intervention is still lacking due to a limited detailed knowledge of how to apply the laws, as well as little trust in institutions in general. Although the PCMA has outlined the prohibition of child marriage on a legal level, it has done little to enforce said policies in many (primarily rural) communities across India. Even in communities where there is knowledge of the PCMA, individuals feel that traditions and norms supersede laws and institutions. In these cases, officials and CMPOs have limited capacity to go against the community that they, themselves, are a  part of.

Yet just as there is a lack in government ability to transform policy into action, so is there a potential for NGOs to fill this gap with information. By increasing awareness in communities through gender sensitization programs, community-based workshops and educational programmes, NGOs have the potential to finish the job that the government began in creating the PCMA, by encouraging communities to act on implementing it. In addition, NGOs can serve to check loopholes in the provisions of the PCMA, correcting shortcomings in order to strengthen the law. Finally, NGOs can intervene through reporting witnessed cases of potential child marriage scenarios in communities where members feel obligated to stay silent, acting as an impartial third party without any reservations to reporting these cases to CMPOs.

As an organization, HEEALS works in the implementation of capacity-building workshops in schools and rural communities in states across India, educating populations about the truth about child marriage and empowering communities to report these cases as they arise. In addition, we work in creating content that gives a firsthand perspective of the child marriage situation in rural India.

I encourage whoever reading this, from wherever you are reading this, to research how this practice informs your home, your  country, and finally, your globe. Noting that the only difference between me and a child bride in India is privilege and opportunity is a harrowing yet crucial realization.

-Jayde! 

Sources:

Child Marriage Handbook

http://childlineindia.org.in/pdf/Child-Marriage-handbook.pdf

UNICEF- Child Marriage

http://unicef.in/Whatwedo/30/Child-Marriage

CRS India Case Studies

http://www.csrindia.org/child-marriage-in-india

Poster : HEEALS