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Government May Re-Look Age of Marriage for Women
The government may re-look at the age of marriage of women in its bid to fight malnutrition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day speech.
“We have formed a committee to ensure that the daughters are no longer suffering from malnutrition and they are married off at the right age. As soon as the report is submitted, appropriate decisions will be taken about the age of marriage of daughters,” the PM said.
This follows from Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget Speech on February 1, 2020, when a task force was proposed to look into the “age of a girl entering motherhood” in order to lower maternal mortality rates and improve nutrition levels. In June, the government announced a 10-member panel headed by Jaya Jaitley and comprising Secretaries from the Ministries of Human Resource Development; Women and Child Development; and Health and Family Welfare, among others. The committee has missed its July 31 deadline to finalise its report and give recommendations.
“This is a really important direction and a welcome recognition at the highest levels in the government about the links between the health of mothers and babies when a girl is married too early and has a child before the age of 20 years. The challenges are not straightforward though as reasons for early marriage vary across the country,” says Purnima Menon, Senior Research Fellow, at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).