The Government of India brought into force the Prohibition of Child
Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) with
effect from 1st November 2007 repealing the Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) of 1929 in order to
prohibit child marriages rather than only restraining them. For
effective implementation of the Act, State Governments have been requested from
time to time to notify rules and appoint Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) under PCMA 2006. As per information provided by
States & UTs, 19 States and 6 UTs have framed the Rules and 20 States and 7 UTs have appointed CMPOs.
According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3,2005-06)
around 46 percentage of women aged 18-29 were married before reaching the legal
age of 18. Of these 53.4 percent were in rural areas and 29.7 percent in urban
areas. However, as per the National
Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, the number of cases registered under Prohibition
of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) 2006 in the year 2010, 2011, 2012
are 60, 113 and 169 respectively.
The Ministry has prepared a draft National Plan of Action on
Prevention of Child Marriage, interalia focusing on
(a) Enforcement of PCMA and related laws (b) Promoting right to quality
education with special emphasis on girls (c) Generating change in social norms
and attitudes.
Besides, requesting the State Governments to take necessary
action for effective implementation of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006,
the Government has taken following steps to address the issue of child
marriage:
i.
National
Commission for Women (NCW) has requested the State Chief Ministers to sensitize and gear up the concerned
machinery of the State Governments against those involved in the incidence of
child marriage.
ii.
Every
year, State Governments are requested to take special initiative to delay
marriage by coordinated efforts on Akha Teej—the traditional day for such marriages.
iii.
The
Government of India launched SABLA, a Scheme for empowering adolescent girls,
in 200 districts of the country on 19th November 2010. The Scheme
aims at empowering adolescent girls (11-18 years) by improving their
nutritional and health status and upgrading various skills like home skills,
life skills and vocational skills etc. and building awareness on various
issues. They would also be sensitized towards the importance marriage at the
right age. By empowering adolescent
girls, the Scheme addresses the issue of child marriage.
iv.
Workshops,
seminars and legal awareness camps are organized in various States by the
Ministry and its autonomous institutions to spread awareness and bring
attitudinal changes to prevent child marriage.
This was stated by Smt.
Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child
Development, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.
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MV