According to media reports, the Indian government has approved a proposal to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21, despite concerns from feminist groups that the step could result in a “real disaster.”
According to findings, the plan to increase the age was formed during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Men must be 21 years old to marry, while women must be 18 years old.
Following cabinet approval, the government is expected to modify the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, as well as special laws, including the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the proposal during his Independence Day speech last year, saying that the government is “constantly concerned about the health of daughters and sisters.”
“Saving our daughters from malnourishment, they must be allowed to marry at the appropriate age,” Modi had stated.
A meaningless Hypothesis
In our country, legislation after legislation has confirmed that the legal age of marriage for women is 18 and for men is 21. Both sexes will now be allowed to marry at the age of 21.
This is very well intended, and it is aimed at obscurantist orthodoxy, which views women solely through the lens of weddings and decrees that a female should always marry as soon as possible. However, a good hypothesis is meaningless.
According to government data, the average age at which Indian women marry has risen to 22.1 years. However, 23.3 per cent of women between the ages of 20 and 24 marry before they turn 18.Â
This information is based on pre-Covid data. Child marriages are said to have increased during the pandemic, highlighting the importance of factors such as poverty and lack of access to education, as well as traditional notions of female status, domestic work, and family ‘honour.’
As a result, access to education and the creation of non-farm jobs that women from low-income families will find suitable – consider Bangladesh’s high female labour force participation due to its textile hubs – will have a far greater impact than a modified law.Â
Is this law framed to control population explosion?
Our motivation for making the suggestion has never been about population control. The Total Fertility Rate has been declining, and the birth rate is under control, according to recent data from the NFHS 5 (National Family Health Survey). The recommendation is based on the idea of women’s empowerment. “
According to the information gathered by the National Family Health Survey , India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) fell below the replacement level of 2.1 for the first time, indicating that a population explosion in the years ahead is highly improbable.
Child marriage has also decreased slightly from 27% in 2015-16 to 23% in 2019-21, according to the data.
Jaitley said, “We received feedback from 16 universities and worked with over 15 non-governmental organisations to reach out now to young individuals, especially in rural and disadvantaged populations, including in Rajasthan’s districts in which early child marriage is common.
The input was solicited from people of all faiths and from both large cities and small towns and villages”.
The general consensus among young adults is that marriage should take place between the ages of 22 and 23. Although some people objected, we started to feel it was more critical to track the lead of the target audience.
It has been suggested that a comprehensive awareness campaign be devised in order to promote social acknowledgement of the judgement. This has advocated for girls’ access to schools and universities, as well as mass transit to educational institutions in remote areas.
Why must the age limit be decreased?
However, Indians aged 18 to 21 can vote, drive, attend college, study for competitive examinations, serve the nation by representing India in sports matches, and act in ‘Adults Only’ films – despite the fact that they are legally prohibited from drinking alcohol in many states, legislation that is also universally flouted.
It’s odd, after which those individuals can’t marry until they’re 21. For a good reason, the minimum age for marriage in the far more socially liberal West is 18. The smart reform in India would be to make the age of marriage for both men and women to be 18 years old.
