Quick glance:
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage Amendment Bill 2021 was passed by Parliament.
- In this Bill, the girl’s marriage age is increased from 18 years to 21 years.
- This Bill is beneficial for the women’s section as it will reduce the maternal mortality rate and increase women’s participation in the labor force.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Bill 2021:
The government said that Child Marriage Bill 2021 will be implemented after two years of notification, as they want to give society some time to cope with the reforms. It is to be noted that this Bill is with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth, and Sports for examination.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day announced that a committee has been formed under the ministry of Health, Women and Child Development to give recommendations on the marriage age of the daughters. Marriage age for girls in India increased from 18 to 21 Year. Earlier marriage age for girls was 18 years.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced in the Parliament. The Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, said this Bill is secular in nature and will be applied for all sections of the society. All women, under Hindu Marriage Act or Muslim Personal Law, should get equal rights to marry.
The chairman of the committee was Jaya Jaitley. This committee found a positive relationship between marriage age and motherhood, which means that early marriage has a negative impact on pregnancy and the health of mother and child. However, the recommendations of the committee are not disclosed, but the main aim of the committee is to examine the relation between marriage age and the health of women.
This Bill of the government is backed by some sections of the society, while some sections of the society opposed this bill by saying that if a girl can vote in the elections for the Prime Minister of the country at age of 18, then why can’t she choose her husband at this age.
Moreover, the standing committee got an online response from the people regarding this bill in January 2022. Out of 95,000 responses, more than 90,000 were against this bill. It is believed that this bill will restrict the freedom of women. Some people are of the view that this decision is a foundation stone for Universal Civil Code; as in Islam, a girl who has attained puberty is valid for marriage.
However, PM Modi defended his decision, citing that raising the marriage age will promote educational empowerment of girls.
History of Girl Marriage age in India
In ancient times in India girls were forced to get married at an early age. Their condition was very bad. So many social reformers fought for their welfare like Jyotiba Phule, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra VidyaSagar.
SARDA ACT 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, set the legal age for marriage as 14 years for women and 18 years for men. This Act was introduced by a member of Arya Samaj, Harbilas Sarda. So this Act was named after him.
In 1978, the SARDA Act was amended by the Indian government, which increased the age of girl marriage to 18 years and that of boys to 21 years.
Hindu marriage act 1955 set marriage age for girls 18 and 21 for men.
The prohibition of child marriage act 2006 also set 18 age for women and 21 for men but with more strict rules.
Anyone who violates this act will be punished with two years of rigorous punishment, or with a fine of one lakh rupees, or with both.
India in comparison to some other countries;
In most of the states of the USA, the legal age for girls is 18 years for marriage.
The minimum age for girls to get married is 16 years in Pakistan.
In England and Wales, people can get married at 18 or, with parental consent, at 16 or 17.
In New Zealand, the minimum marriage age is 18 years, or 16 years with consent of the Family Court.
The Benefits of Raising Marriage Age:
- It will increase the nutrition level in women and reduce the risk of early pregnancy.
- With the increase in marriage age, India may be successful in achieving Sustainable development goals(SDGs goals) of reducing maternal mortality rate from 110 to 70 by 2030
- There will be motivation for girls to pursue higher education, which in return will make them more career-oriented.
- It will lead to gender neutrality in the country.
According to UNICEF, India has done a tremendous job in the last 15 years in solving the problem of child marriage, but it is still not sufficient to achieve the sustainable development goal of eliminating child marriage by 2030. As per the data given by UNICEF in India, there are still 1.5 million child marriages. Also, half of these girl brides live in five states of India, and these states are:
Uttar Pradesh
Bihar
West Bengal
Maharashtra
Madhya Pradesh
Question: What is the legal age of Marriage for girls in India?
Answer: With the amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, the age of girl marriage has been increased from 18 years to 21 years.
Question: What is SARDA Act 1929?
Answer: The SARDA Act of 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, set the legal age for marriage at 14 years for women and 18 years for men. This Act was introduced by a member of the Arya Samaj, Harbilas Sarda. So this Act was named after him.
Question: What is the Parliamentary Standing Committee?
Answer: The Parliamentary Standing Committee is a permanent committee, and it continues its work. This committee consists of Members of Parliament both from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The total members of Parliamentary Standing Committee are 31. The members in the committee from Lok Sabha are appointed by the Speaker of the house and the members from the Rajya Sabha are appointed by the Chairman of Rajya Sabha.
