‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ campaign

• Union Minister of Women and Child Development Annapurna Devi launched a ‘100-day Intensive Awareness Campaign for a Child Marriage Free Bharat’ on December 4.

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) launched the ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ campaign on November 27, 2024 and this new campaign marks its completion of one year.

• This national drive will be implemented in close coordination with the Ministries of Health & Family Welfare, Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, and Education, ensuring seamless collaboration and extensive grassroots reach. 

‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ campaign

• ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ campaign is one of the most important imperatives to promote education, skilling, enterprise and entrepreneurship among girls and women.

• A ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ portal, an online platform dedicated to supporting the campaign's vision by raising awareness, preventing child marriages, and facilitating the effective reporting of such incidents has also been launched.

• This will act as a centralised platform which can provide information about Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) at central level, awareness programmes conducted and to facilitate reporting of the child marriage incidences.

Objectives of the the campaign:

• Advocate for legislative changes that establish 18 as the minimum age of marriage without exceptions, ensuring legal protections for children.

• Strengthen the supervision and evaluation of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) to guarantee their active role in preventing child marriages and supporting affected individuals.

• Increase transparency and accessibility by making comprehensive information about CMPOs available to the public, facilitating better communication and support.

• Simplify the process of reporting child marriage cases by implementing user-friendly mechanisms that encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and seek justice.

• Conduct extensive awareness campaigns to educate communities about the adverse effects of child marriage and to promote the importance of protecting children’s rights and futures.

What is child marriage? What are its driving factors?

• Child marriage is a social evil, and its commission is a criminal offence.

• Child marriage is the phenomenon of children being married before they attain the minimum legal age under the law. Globally, children continue – despite legal norms to the contrary – to be married before they reach the age of 18 years. 

• Globally, one in every five girls is formally married or in an informal union, before reaching age 18.

• Section 28 of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) defines child marriage as a marriage to which either of the contracting parties is a child. Girls below the age of 18 and boys below the age of 21 are deemed to be children under the PCMA.

• Patriarchy, gender inequality, poverty and lack of education and employment lead to child marriage.

• Child marriages persist due to societal perceptions and economic pressures. Investment in a girl’s education is frequently regarded as wasteful, leading some families to end schooling early and consider marriage instead. Poverty and structural inequalities, including gender, caste, and class, further drive child marriages.

• Many parents wish to marry their girl child early to guard against any aspersions on the girl’s virtue of virginity and to mitigate the economic costs associated with raising a child, payment of dowry and conducting a wedding. 

• The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child regards child marriage as a violation of human rights.

• Elimination of child, early and forced marriages has been committed to by 193 nations, including India under target 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Child marriages in India

• The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes the data on the number of cases of child marriage registered under The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006 in its publication 'Crime in India'. 

• As per information available with NCRB, the number of cases registered under PCMA during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 are 785, 1,050 and 1,002 respectively. 

• Child marriage has been on a steady decline in India. The prevalence of child marriages in India has halved since the enactment of the PCMA in 2006 from 47 per cent to 27 per cent in 2015-16 and 23.3 per cent in 2019-2021.

• The decline in child marriage in India is in line with the global trend. In the past decade, the proportion of girls married as children has dropped by 15 per cent. Despite these enormous strides globally and in India, no region in the world is on track to attain the SDG-5 target (Gender Equality).

• It is estimated that the progress in reducing child marriage would need to be 12 times faster than the rate observed in the past decade to achieve the SDG-5 target.

Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA)

• In 1921, the League of Nations held a conference on the trafficking of women and recommended raising the age of consent to 21 years for girls. 

• In 1922, Bakshi Sohanlal unsuccessfully tried to raise the age of consent to 14 by introducing a Bill. Bills that sought to raise the age of consent were introduced and thrown out regularly for five years thereafter. 

• Among these Bills was an Age of Marriage Bill which was sought to be introduced by Ranglal Jajodia in 1924 in the Legislative Assembly. The Bill prescribed a minimum age before which no marriage could take place. This was a shift from the approach taken by other reformers and legislators of not interfering with the age of marriage but to merely protect girls from forced sex by raising the age of consent in penal laws. 

• While this Bill was never introduced, a similar Bill was introduced by Haribilas Sarda in 1927 after another failed attempt to raise the age of consent by Hari Singh Gour. 

• The ‘Sarda Bill’ was circulated widely to attract opinions. After much debate, the Sarda Bill was enacted as the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 and received the assent of the Governor-General on October 1, 1929.

• The Act continued to govern the law on the age of marriage till Parliament enacted the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

• The PCMA retained the age of marriage as 21 for males and 18 for females.

• The Act provides for governing parties to a child marriage after its commission, punitive measures against offenders of the Act as well as provisions for the prevention of child marriage.

• The PCMA prescribes punishment for three classes of persons, namely:

i) An adult groom in a child marriage.

ii) Persons involved in the solemnisation of child marriage.

iii) Persons who promote or permit the solemnisation of child marriage.

• The maximum punishment prescribed for all three classes is rigorous imprisonment of two years and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. 

• Unlike many social legislations, the PCMA does not prescribe a mandatory minimum punishment for committing an offence under the Act.

• Section 15 of the PCMA stipulates that all offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable.

• Section 16 of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) authorises the state government to appoint for the whole state, or such part there of as may be specified, an officer or officers to be known as the ‘Child Marriage Prohibition Officers’ (CMPO) having jurisdiction over the area or areas specified in the notification. 

Challenges in tackling child marriage

• PCMA focuses on two key pillars: (a) raising awareness and (b) prosecution. 

• Despite progress in awareness campaigns, there is still a pressing need to enhance accountability mechanisms, ensure mandatory reporting, and rehabilitate minors affected by child marriages. 

• Further attention is required to make the legal framework more effective by addressing loopholes and ensuring swift action against offenders, particularly in areas with high child marriage prevalence.

• There remains a gap in implementing specific, targeted measures focused solely on the prevention of child marriage. Existing schemes, while impactful, do not provide sufficient tools to tackle child marriage comprehensively. 

• For instance, while training and educational programs are vital, there appears to be a lack of robust mechanisms to monitor the long-term outcomes of these initiatives, particularly in rural and underserved areas where child marriage rates are often high. 

• Additionally, while financial support is essential in empowering women, it may not always effectively reach the most vulnerable communities.

• While the PCMA seeks to prohibit child marriages, it does not stipulate on betrothals. Marriages fixed in the minority of a child also have the effect of violating their rights to free choice, autonomy, agency and childhood. It takes away from them their choice of partner and life paths before they mature and form the ability to assert their agency.

Way forward 

• Addressing child marriage requires an intersectional approach that acknowledges the overlapping vulnerabilities experienced by children, especially girls from marginalised communities. 

• Intersectionality involves considering factors like gender, caste, socioeconomic status, and geography, which often increase the risks of early marriage.

• Preventive strategies should therefore be tailored to the unique needs of various communities and focus on addressing the root causes of child marriage, such as poverty, gender inequality, lack of education, and entrenched cultural practices. 

• The PCMA as a social legislation will only succeed through the collective efforts of all stakeholders to address the issue within a broader social framework which emphasises the need for multi-sectoral coordination. 

• This necessitates the enhancement of reporting mechanisms, expansion of public awareness campaigns, and investment in the training and capacity-building of law enforcement officers and related actors. 

• It is also crucial to regularly monitor the implementation of the Act, conduct evaluations to identify gaps, and establish feedback mechanisms to continually refine and improve responses to child marriage.