Blitz Bureau
INSPIRED by the success of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ – a flagship scheme launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 22nd January, 2015- the Government has now launched a national campaign, ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’, to make India a child marriage-free nation.
Launching the campaign on November 27, Women and Child Development Minister Annpurna Devi said the Government has identified 130 districts where this campaign will be run in a focused manner. She highlighted that child marriage is not just a criminal offence but also a human rights violation. The Minister said that the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign is not just a 10 or 15-day event but a non-stop effort that will continue till India is free from the evil of child marriage.
“Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat is inspired by the vision of Prime Minister of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by the year 2047. Achieving this vision is not possible unless women and girls have full, equal and meaningful participation in all spheres of life, the ministry said. During the event, the Minister also unveiled the Child MarriageFree Bharat portal. The online platform has been developed to support the campaign’s mission of raising awareness, preventing child marriage, and effectively reporting incidents of child marriage.
“India has today achieved success in bringing down child mortality rate, sex ratio at birth and also promoting girl’s enrolment at all levels and all streams of educational spectrum over the past few years. However, one of the major area of concerns remain the continued practice of child marriage, which is one of the worst forms of human rights violations. Despite concerted efforts, even today, almost 1 in 5 girls are getting married before they attain the legal age of marriage i.e. 18 years. It is a practice that disproportionately affects girls, subjecting them to a life of premature caregiving, denying them the joys of youth, and often leading to a cycle of poverty,” a ministry press release said.
