Indore tops child marriages in Madhya Pradesh

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Indore tops child marriages in Madhya Pradesh

BHOPAL: Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, has more than 37,700 children who are married below legal age. This is by far highest number in state according to recently released Census 2011 figures.

As per census data, Indore is followed by Ujjain, Dhar, Shajapur and Rajgarh districts where highest number of child marriages take place, more than 30,000 in each district. MP accounts for around 8.91 lakh children who are married reveal census data.

Surprisingly, these five districts mostly in Malwa region account for almost one-fifth of total child marriages in state. While, rural child marriages outnumber urban ones, Indore has the dubious distinction of having maximum urban child marriages in the state as well, with almost 23,500 such cases. Other districts have low urban minor marriages with Ujjain coming a distant second at 6,151 cases.

Women and child development (WCD) department has been keeping strict vigil on these districts in view of Akshaya Tritiya on Tuesday when large number of child marriages are solemnized.

Commissioner women empowerment directorate of WCD, Kalpana Shrivastava told TOI, "Our campaign - Lado Abhiyan that started from February 2013 is spread across the state throughout the year preventing awareness against girl child marriage. However, now we are witnessing a trend of minor boys getting married which is a focus area as well. We are more concerned about preventing child marriages and have roped in people like pundits, tentwallahs, caterers and others who institutionalize marriages."

As per Census 2011, 69% of minors getting married in MP are boys numbering more than 5.6 lakh while 31% minor girls are married (3.2 lakh).

Of the minors, who got married before attaining legal age, around 30,000 kids were either widowed or separated or divorced. Of these, there were 12,382 girls below 18 years and 17,059 boys below 21 years of age.


Most such kids were from Indore (1,572), Bhopal (1,237) and Jabalpur (1,190) according to the report.

Child Marriage and Teen Pregnancy: Two Sides of the Same Coin

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Child Marriage and Teen Pregnancy: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Child brides are a big issue for eastern countries, as are young mums or teenage mothers for western countries like the United Kingdom or United States, respectively. The way these issues are often discussed highlights an inconsistency in the western mind. Why, for example, is an under-aged girl called a child bride when she is married away and a young mum when she gives birth? Why not call the latter a child mum or child mother? Is there any difference between child brides and child mums when it comes to their future? Neither has a future.

The number of child mums remains very high regardless of how well they are informed about birth control or how much their government supports them. In the UK and US, for example, the average pregnancy rate for girls between 15 and 19 is about three percent. When governments look after these children, what effects does this have on them giving birth? Are there any studies on this? If so, why are they not shared and openly discussed? What is the effect on these children of being subjected to a system that, with one hand, proffers support that mutates into a perverse encouragement to become a child mum, and with the other uses this fact to hammer them at the service of a politically expedient social vilification?

Notwithstanding this, the upbringing of these babies and the future that awaits them are pressing questions. How are the babies expected to integrate with society, information and technology while their mothers’ bodies have already been consumed in their youth? Why is this consumption of the body and traumatic consequences of instrumentalized sexuality, disconnected from natural pleasure and joy, not discussed with the young generation? How can one define freedom absent from pleasure, joy and personal responsibility?

The personal problems that these young girls face during their self-exploratory journeys become harsher with the unrealistic burdens laid upon them, not only as women, but also as mothers. To achieve knowledge of one’s femininity, separate from one’s mother, is a rare luxury, nearly impossible for many women, given that, unlike the minds and bodies of men, the minds and bodies of women who are mothers are intertwined with motherhood.

Society begins to have unrealistic expectations of women once they become mothers, even if they are children. How can a girl be ready for motherhood during her transition from childhood to womanhood? The realities that a child mum experiences in motherhood are locked in a kind of sacred box that is put away and never discussed. Furthermore, even though it is widely agreed in the fields of neurology and psychology that a woman passes on her inner conflicts about her gender to three generations, the implications of this reality are persistently ignored.

Women are expected to be free from old conflicts, and at the same time be resourceful, mature and able to solve any problem when they face the novel circumstances that emerge with motherhood. While the miracle of motherhood is presumed to solve all problems, the fact that it can intensify previous problems for some is generally ignored. Old fears may subconsciously reemerge in time, with overwhelming feelings of despair, sadness and inadequacy that prompt hatred and revenge towards the infant. How can a mother discuss this honestly, faced with society’s expectations of her happiness and her satisfaction with the promised fulfillment of motherhood? Instead, these problems are understood to be the purview of psychologists and psychiatrists; they are medicalized and the woman estranged.

Mothers who cannot suffer, mothers who cannot get confused, mothers who cannot show negative feelings outside of a medical discourse: are these not women? Mothers are not sacred; they are women who live with their minds, emotions and bodies. They suffer, they can become confused, they can get mad, and they may not get everything right. Mothers are neither robots nor angels, but if they are not adults, then they are merely children.

Government committed to abolish child marriage...

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Government committed to abolish child marriage...

Kolkata, Sept 9 (PTI) The new government in West Bengal is commited to curb the menace of child marriage with the help of local bodies, Women and Child Development Minister Sabitri Mitra today said.An awareness campaign among parents and village elders is being launched with active involvement of panchayet bodies and other grassroot organisations in villages and towns for the purpose, the minister said.''We must realise that child marriage gives rise to trafficking of girls and women and I am confident that if all districts develop an action plan by the end of this year and implement it in 2012, we will have a different story to tell,'' Mitra said at a state-level consultation programme of UNICEF and her department.Mitra later told reproters that her government has been in power for a little over three months, but has already started the process for abolishing child marriage.Popular Bengali film star Koel Mallick, chosen the UNICEF celebrity advocate for the girl child in West Bengal, said that she had taken her new role very seriously."As long as the practice of child marriage continues, ensuring real development can never been realised," Mallick said.A UNICEF spokesperson said a staggering 53.9 per cent of girls are married off before they reach 18 in Bengal.Underscoring the need to provide quality education to girls, UNICEF Chief of Field Office in West Bengal Lori Calvo said, "Evidence shows that educated girls grow into agents of change for their families, communities and societies as a whole.'' PTI SUS MD

Child Marriage

"The film shows the hidden reality of rural India. A world of child marriage, child labour and domestic abuse. It also shows how some women use video cameras to challenge traditional ways of life"