Child marriage is one of the curses which is still practised in our society. Till today 47% of girls are married before 18 years of their age. This practice usually takes place in the backward and uneducated area such as Bihar and Rajasthan. Albeit these states have many metropolitan cities but still the religious myths preside in these areas.
Why do we consider a girl child as a burden? Why cant she get an education? Why is she given away without her will? Many questions usually come to mind. There are many NGOs and initiatives carried out by the government and even by private firms to aware people of child marriage and its disadvantages. Prohibition of child marriage act 2006 has put a limit for the age of marriage i.e 18 for girl and 21 for the boy. But many incidents still occur basically in rural areas where these people are not aware and also our judicial system not able to approach them.
According to the data released by UNICEF 10 million girls will be at risk of child marriage during the pandemic. Because of the economic stress parents are giving off their girl at an early age. This child marriage brings other evil practises such as domestic violence, early pregnancy which is sometimes fatal for both mother and child and many more.
This ultimately gives rise to an economic gap in the country where male and female are not giving their 100% in the economy. As women suffer from both poverty and lack of education they are not able to fulfil their needs and this vicious cycle never stop if it starts in the family. Education is the only key to break this chain. This not only destroys the life of that innocent child bride but it also impacts her children who will suffer the same if they are girl child.
It will take decades to solve this evil as it spread like a spider web