• Women & Child Department notification directs DCs to ensure preemptive measures for prevention of child marriages;
• Directs officials to organize mass awareness programs, including meeting religious heads, Panchayat representatives;
• Asks Chief Registrars of Marriages, Registrars to provide information on registration of child marriages by cross-checking age of brides
• Child Marriage Free India Coalition Partner (Name of NGO) welcomes govt initiative and extends full support
Ranchi News : In order to prevent child marriage from being solemnized during forthcoming ‘Akshaya Tritiya’, Jharkhand Government has taken preemptive and prompt action in form of notification issued and circulated to all officials at district level to report and stop any occurrence of such case in the state. A notification issued by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department directed all the Deputy Commissioners of Jharkhand to take preventive measures on child marriages during Akshaya Tritiya, which falls on May 10 this year.
Welcoming the State Government’s initiative that can free the state from the clutches of child marriage, Child Marriage Free India campaign working with 161 NGOs at grassroots across the country has promised every possible support in the Government’s initiative. The Child Marriage Free India campaign has been working in 257 districts which have high prevalence of child marriage and aims to end child marriage by the year 2030.
Terming child marriage as a serious issue which requires immediate resolution for which awareness programs have to be organized and environment created to check any occurrences, the WCD Department notification directs officials to step up vigil at panchayat and block levels.
Child Marriage In India
“As an immediate steps, awareness programs should be organized in villages where mass contact should be established with religious leaders, panchayat representatives and police officials. The Deputy Commissioners should prepare a school-wise list of drop-outs as well as that of those children who have been absent without informing the school besides utilizing media to generate awareness among the masses,” said the notification which has issued and addressed to all the District Program Officers as well Protection-cum-Prohibition Officers in Jharkhand.
The WCD Department has also issued directions to all Chief Registrars of Marriages and Registrars Marriages in rural and urban areas of Jharkhand to initiate appropriate steps for dissemination of information regarding the number of registration of marriages in their respective jurisdiction and cross check age of brides.
Child Marriage In Jharkhand
To do away the evils of child marriage, Jharkhand Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act 2017 (Jharkhand Act No. 04, 2018) is in force and the government has entrusted the Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms Departments to ensure compliance of the provisions of the act.
Commending Jharkhand Government’s preemptive and prompt initiative on prevention of child marriages, Ravi Kant, Convenor, Child Marriage Free India Campaign (CMFI), said, “Jharkhand government’s multipronged approach to combat child marriage reflects the government’s commitment and understanding of the issue. It is only when the state governments take such stance will we be able to uproot this crime from our social fabric effectively and urgently. Jharkhand has consistently been fighting this menace and has seen remarkable results too. This notification around Akshaya Tritiya will only ensure that Child Marriage free Jharkhand becomes a reality very soon.”
Child Marriage Abolition Act
The coalition partners of Child Marriage Free India campaign work as per the strategy and action plan prescribed in the bestseller ‘When Children Have Children: Tipping Point to End Child Marriage’ authored by child rights activist Bhuwan Ribhu.
As per the National Family Health Survey-V (NFHS 2019-21) report, nationally 23.3% women between the age group of 20-24 were married before attaining the age of 18 while Jharkhand reported 32.2 per cent which is higher than the national average.
-VisheshNews.Com Bureau
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