Strategic action plan on cards to stop child marriage in

A strategic action plan (SAP) to enhance adolescent empowerment and prevent child marriage is in the offing in Assam's Hailakandi district, officials said.

Child marriage in India is a matter of serious concern and it denies a child the basic right to good health, nutrition and education, the District Development Commissioner of Hailakandi, Madhumita Choudhury, said at a district level stakeholders meeting on Thursday.

Convergence between various departments, ministries and other stakeholders and a coordinated inter-departmental action for effective implementation of the relevant schemes, and programmes of the central and state governments on child marriage can bring about the desired change, Choudhury said.

Boys are also affected by child marriage. But the impact on girls is more, she said, adding, it is high time to put an end to child marriage.

Quoting a National Family Health Survey (NFHS) report, she said that nearly 46 per cent of women and 27 per cent of men are estimated to have married before reaching the legal minimum age of marriage.

The meeting was organized by the state social welfare department and Hailakandi district administration supported by MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child and UNICEF in order to formulate the SAP to enhance adolescent empowerment and put an end to child marriage.

SAP will be finalised after defining goals, objectives and strategies, an official said.

The Centre has made efforts to curb the practice in recent years through repealing Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929 and bringing in a more progressive Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 that includes punitive measures against those who perform, permit and promote child marriage of males below the age of 21 years and females below 18 years as defined under the Act, the official said.