Child marriage
Girl child – a nation’s asset, but her life’s at stake
Despite many legislations to protect and empower girls, the ground reality paints a dismal picture. It’s time to recognise that a girl child is an asset and not a liability.
Adolescent girls progress towards complete empowerment
Repressive norms pushed adolescent girls to poor health and early marriage. Bringing them together into groups has helped them improve their health, stop child marriage and learn vocational skills
Life skills education prevents child marriages among Odiya tribes
Life skills education empowers tribal girls with knowledge, self-awareness and decision making capacities, helping them rise above social customs and pressures. It has resulted in decline of child marriages
Archaic customs hold community back from development
With rigid traditions and customs such as not eating food cooked by other communities, the Thottinayakar community in Tamil Nadu is lagging in social, educational and economic development
Girls in rural Rajasthan show zeal for science
A rural student’s aspiration has broken gender stereotypes, inspiring girls to choose to study science subjects, with Atal Tinkering Labs, science fairs and other such initiatives increasing science literacy
Beedi rolling robs Murshidabad girls of their childhood
Young girls in rural Murshidabad are pushed by their parents to roll beedis, the poor man’s cigarette, at the cost of their schooling because being able to earn improves their marriage prospects
Child marriage ban helps Gond girls pursue dreams
In Gond tribal villages where child marriages were the norm till recently, a resolution by elders to ban marriages before legal age has helped girl children to continue their education
Facebook, WhatsApp curbing child marriages in Assam
At a time when social media is being used to spread lies and malicious rumors, a group of young people in Assam are using WhatsApp and Facebook groups to prevent child marriages in the underdeveloped district of Darrang
Custom of child marriages must be fought on multiple fronts
There is no silver bullet to defeat the scourge of underage marriages. Rather, it is important to extend the scope of current interventions among adolescents and the communities they grow up in, which then need to be backed up by suitable government policies
Interventions to stop child marriages raise hopes in Odisha
The practice of underage marriage is acute in the tribal-dominated southern and southwestern parts of Odisha, but interventions on the ground are planting the seeds of change among adolescent girls and their parents
Breaking the norm of child marriage an uphill task in Uttar Pradesh
A detailed baseline study conducted in seven districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh shows that underage marriages are still widely prevalent, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and this practice holds back girls from realizing their full potential