Srinagar: A new survey has revealed that Jammu and Kashmir has the lowest child marriages in India.
National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) has revealed that only six percent of women have been married before reaching the legal minimum age of 18.
The other states which have reported lower child marriages include Himachal Pradesh, Goa, and Nagaland (7 percent each), and Kerala and Puducherry (8 percent each).
At 35%, Jharkhand has reported the highest number of child marriages of women. Andhra Pradesh has 33% Assam 32%, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 28 %, Telangana 27 %, and 25 % each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Around 25 percent of women aged 18-29 have got married before the legal minimum age of marriage of 18 years in India.
The legal age of marriage for women is 18 and 21 for men in the country. However, the government is planning to make it 21 for both men and women.
Currently, the median age for marriage among women aged 20-49 in India is 19.2 years, and 24.9 years among men of age 25-49.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the median age for marriage is 23.6 years among women.
Sociologist Irshad Bhat said the improving financial stabilities, literacy, and empowerment of the women in Jammu and Kashmir have led to the decline in child marriages.
“The harmful practice of child marriage is on a decline globally. Macro-level factors including higher social expenditures, economic growth, and women’s empowerment, tend to be associated with lower rates of child marriage,” he said.
Bhat said that strict laws too have contributed to the end of child marriage in the valley.
“Not-so- long before, child marriage was rampant in Kashmir. Now, the government schemes such as Ladli Beti',Hausla’, and many others, are empowering the womenfolk. The law enforcement agencies are also imposing Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 strictly in the union territory,” he said.
