Children forced into marriages are caught in a vicious cycle
that prevents them from realising their full potential and also
adversely impacts their families, communities, and the country at large
Fifteen-year-old Anita Kumari roams around the lanes of Bihar’s
Muzaffarpur’s Neknampur village flaunting a line of vermilion powder
over the parting in her hair. Forced into marriage before the legal age
of 18, Anita had to compromise with her dreams of becoming a doctor as
her parents disapproved of the idea of a girl ‘dreaming’. Born to
illiterate parents, Anita somehow managed to study till class eight, but
after getting married to an illiterate man, she sees no scope of
reviving her dream.
Child marriage, wherein a girl is married before the age of 18 years
and a boy before 21, has been rampant in India since time immemorial.
Even today, Anita isn’t alone. As the recent report by the United
Nations reveals, one out of every three child brides in the world is in
India, putting the country to global shame for its inability to stop
this social malpractice. The States of Bihar and Jharkhand have the
highest prevalence of child marriage.
Even after this embarrassing revelation, many Indians prefer to ignore
the reality. A visit to Anita’s Bihar provides testimony to the recorded
facts. Dalit bastis of Bhairon Ganj in Bagha like Juda Pakdi, Kadamhawa
tola, Manjhariya, Bhainshi and Nadda have traditionally married off
their girls at an early age.
Young girls and boys who don’t even understand the meaning of marriage
are made to tie the knot, follow every tradition and in the process, and
lose their innocence. It is a heart wrenching moment to see vermillion
in a little girl’s forehead, loaded with accessories she can’t even bear
the burden of, taking ‘saat pheras’ behind an equally young boy with
maudis on their heads.
Soni, Meena, Seema and Pratima are not just girls, who before attaining
puberty have been married, but also precious lives that trapped in a
vicious cycle where, at every step, their physical, mental and
reproductive health is compromised.
The reasons behind child marriage are as unacceptable as the trend
itself. Paying a higher dowry, ensuring the chastity of women,
considering girls as a liability and poor emphasis on girls’ education
are some of the excuses ‘unfortunate’ parents of a girl child give while
marrying them off early. Weak laws and their poor implementation are
also part of the problem.
In its report, Ending Child Marriage — Progress and Prospects, the UN
placed India in the sixth position among the 10 countries with the
highest prevalence of child marriage. South Asia is home to almost half
(42 per cent) of all child brides worldwide, with India alone accounting
for one-third of the global total, the report stated.
“In India, about 27 per cent of women aged between 20 and 49 years were
married before they turned 15. About 31 per cent of women in that age
group were married after age 15 but before they turned 18. The median
age of the first marriage among girls is 19 in India”, it added.
This deep-rooted social evil is, for several years now, being fought by
a number of Governments and non-Government organisations. A Google
search shows a long list of national and international NGOs fighting
child marriage in different parts of India. It is due to their constant
efforts that the prevalence decreased slightly
Between 2007 and 2008, the percentage of child brides was 42.9, as per
the district-level household and facility survey. In over a decade
between 1992 and 2006, the percentage of child brides in the age group
of 20 to 24 years decreased by 6.8 percentage points — from 54.2 per
cent in 1992-1993 to 47.4 per cent in 2005-2006.
It is not only the girl child who bears the consequences of early
marriage but the lives of those around them are also impacted. When
girls marry young, before their minds and bodies are fully developed,
they usually become pregnant before they are ready for parenthood.
Research done by Plan International shows that pregnancy is the number
one cause of death among girls aged between 15 and 19 worldwide. It also
shows that child marriage reinforces the gendered nature of poverty,
with limited education and skills reducing the potential of the girl,
her family, her community and her country. Child marriage hinders a girl
throughout her adult life and into the next generation.
With India contributing more than 40 per cent to incidences of child
marriages in the world, one can only imagine the number of teenage
mothers this nation is home to. One in six girls in the age group 15 to
19 years in India is a mother. The percentage of teenage mothers varies
from 19.1 per cent in rural areas to 8.7 per cent in urban areas.
Child marriage has been a part of Indian society for several centuries
now and has forced millions of girls into the vicious cycle of
illiteracy, poverty, weak physical and reproductive health and
eventually, untimely deaths. It is high time that the practice of child
marriages in India ends.
The malice isn’t State specific; little children across our country are
being affected, jeopardising India’s future. The time is right to
support our Government and NGOs in spreading awareness towards the
cause. Any little help can give back girls like Anita the right to
dream.
(The writer is the Editor of ‘Appan Samachar’, a community channel & monthly Chittha run by village women in Muzaffarpur, Bihar)
http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/knot-in-the-age-of-innocence.html
