Patna,(BiharTimes): With 60 per cent girls marrying before attaining the legally prescribed age of 18 Bihar continues to have the highest percentage of child marriages in the country. However, there is general decline in the rate of child marriages among young girls in India as a whole.
According to data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the progress made in this direction is not sufficient to guarantee their right to education and self-determination.
The United Nations on Thursday marked the first International Day of the Girl Child, focusing on the theme of calling for an end to child marriages and stressing that education was one of the best strategies for protecting girls against this age-old practice.
The United Nations Population Fund has announced that it will invest an additional 20 million dollar over the next five years to reach the most marginalised adolescent girls in 12 countries with high rates of child marriage. The countries to be focused on include India, Nigeria, Guatemala and Zambia.
According to the United Nations Population Fund’s report, “Marrying Too Young: End Child Marriage,” which was released on Thursday, 47 per cent of women in India between 20 and 24 years of age had married or entered into a union by the time they were 18, during 2000-2011. Of these 56 per cent live in the rural areas and almost 30 per cent in urban households. Nearly 76 per cent of the girls had no education. Further, 75 per cent of the young girls hailed from the poorest of the poor households and 16 per cent from the rich households.
As per the data of three consecutive household surveys in India the rate of child marriage among girls under age 15 is declining at more than twice the rate than among girls under 18 years of age. The decline for girls under 15 years of age is 30 per cent as compared to 13 per cent reduction for girls under the age of 18.
Citing NHFS data, 2006, the report said that Goa, Manipur and Kerala have prevalence rates of 11%, 13% and 15% respectively.
On the other end are the figures of Bihar (60%), Andhra Pradesh (55%) and Uttar Pradesh (50%).
At the global level the practice of child marriage has remained at the same level, when it was a decade back. This is so notwithstanding the best efforts made by various international organizations.
The UN body report also said that if current trends continue, the number of girl child marriages will increase dramatically over the next 10 years.
