A battle half won?

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that India, into its eighth decade of independence, is only half free. The female population remains shackled in chains of conventional prejudices that shape their present-day realities. One among those roadblocks is the regressive practice of child marriage. Child marriage is a gender-neutral crime. However, it affects girls more than boys. More importantly, it hinders national growth by wasting the economic potential of a vast section of the Indian population. The practice has persisted through decades and centuries in India due to its complex nature and societal approval. It lies at the root of many challenges faced by the country’s youth. Parents, especially in rural areas, consider a girl child as a liability that has to be dealt with earliest possible. A part of this problem is associated with the belief that maintaining the ‘chastity’ and ‘dignity’ of a girl child is a heavy burden to bear. This highly flawed perception of pseudo-pride is perhaps the biggest roadblock in a girl’s path to quality education and career success. Early marriages of boys is no less worrisome but the problem is more intense and prevalent in the case of girls.

Despite decades of efforts, one in every five girls in the country is still married before reaching the legal age of 18. The recent launch of the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat Abhiyan by Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi has proved to be a significant step in the fight against this practice. With a goal of reducing child marriage rates to below 5 per cent by 2029, this campaign has established a renewed commitment to ensuring that every girl in India has the chance to live a life of dignity and opportunity. The progress made so far is impressive. According to the National Family Health Survey-5, child marriage prevalence has nearly halved from 47.4 per cent in 2005-06 to 23.3 per cent in 2019-21. The minister revealed that around two lakh child marriages were prevented in the past year alone, credit to the targeted interventions by the government. India’s contributions to the global decline in child marriage rates, especially in South Asia, have been widely acknowledged. However, states like West Bengal, Bihar, and Rajasthan remain particularly vulnerable to the malaise—driven by a toxic mix of poverty, patriarchy, and inadequate access to education.

It is clear that laws alone cannot solve this problem. At the intersection of law, society, and polity, it is society that usually dominates. Societal practices—good or bad—are very deep-rooted and accumulate layer by layer over an extended timespan. These practices are hard to be undone, and require an all-round, consistent effort. While the Prevention of Child Marriage Act, 2006, provides a legal framework to deter the practice, awareness and grassroots action are equally vital. Annapurna Devi’s emphasis on the need for a “whole-of-government and whole-of-society” approach is timely and necessary. It remains to be seen how sustained this effort will be and what tangible changes it will bring. The introduction of the Child Marriage Free Bharat portal, which enables real-time reporting and monitoring of cases, is a promising initiative. However, its success will depend on efficient implementation, active involvement of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs), and vigilant oversight to ensure accountability.

It must be remembered that the implications of child marriage go beyond individual lives. It undermines public health, perpetuates poverty, and stifles economic growth by keeping women out of the workforce. It also limits the nation’s progress toward achieving gender equality and social justice. The Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat Abhiyan aligns with India’s vision of becoming a developed nation by 2047, but this vision will remain incomplete without the full participation of women and girls in all aspects of society. A massive cultural shift is the need of the time, where society, law, politics and economics will have to converge for a quick, tangible change. Though it seems difficult in the wake of deep-seated societal inertia, thorough implementation of punitive actions, as per law, may create some deterrence for the wrongdoers.