Bachpan Bachao Andolan along with law enforcement agencies conduct consultation towards Child Marriage Free Jharkhand

Ranchi: With the aim to end child marriage in India by 2030, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi organized a state consultation in collaboration with Panchayati Raj, Women and Child Development department. The consultation engaged and involved multiple stakeholders to intensify the fight against child marriage. 

The aim was to mobilise all stakeholders of child protection to move together and help in the realisation of child marriage free Jharkhand under the larger vision of Child marriage free India. All the stakeholders deliberated through the consultation and created a roadmap to make Jharkhand Child Marriage free. 

Dhananjay Tingal, Executive Director, BBA said, “Over 76000 women and children in 7028 villages across the country took to streets to raise their voice against child marriage in just one single day. This consultation will be held in 20 states and is yet another step towards realising our collective dream to make India child marriage free by 2030. To fight and uproot child marriages completely, we need a multipronged and multidimensional strategy.

Through these consultations, we aim to bring together the various stake holders so that they can work in tandem to fight this crime.” The consultation is also supported by Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation.

Principal Secretary, Panchayati  Raj and Rural Development, Rajiv Arun Ekka said, “Child marriage is basically an issue related to women empowerment. In almost all the findings, we see that women are the victims of child
marriage and they need to be more aware of this practice. With the empowerment of women, problems like child marriage can be curbed effectively. No particular organization or individual can alone curb child marriage.”

According to Census 2011 report, 51,57,863 girls in India and around 3.59 lakh children were married off before turning 18 in Jharkhand. This is a cause of grave concern and requires immediate action to protect young girls from the evil of child marriage. 

The National Family Health Survey-V (NFHS 2019-21) reports that nationally 23.3% women between the age group of 20-24 were married off before attaining the age of 18. While, Jharkhand reported 32.2% of women in the same age group were married before the age of 18.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.