State Stakeholders Consultation held on ‘Child Labour & Child Marriage Free Uttarakhand’
By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 27 Sep: With the aim of ending child marriage in India by 2030, the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, organised a State Stakeholders Consultation on ‘Child Labour & Child Marriage Free Uttarakhand’ here, today, in collaboration with the state Home Department.
The consultation engaged and involved multiple stakeholders to intensify the fight against child marriage. The aim was to mobilise all stakeholders in child protection to move together and help in the realisation of child marriage free Uttarakhand under the larger vision of child marriage free India. It is the world’s largest grassroots movement against child marriage led by 76,000 women.
Those present on this occasion included Chief Guest Radha Raturi, Additional Chief Secretary; Special Guest Nivedita Kukreti, Additional Secretary, Home; DGP Ashok Kumar; Prashant Arya, Additional Secretary, Women Empowerment & Child Development; Anil Petwal, Additional Labour Commissioner; and Sujata Singh, Deputy Director, Women & Child Development.
All the stakeholders deliberated and created a roadmap to make Uttarakhand Child Marriage Free.
Dhananjay Tingal, Executive Director, BBA said, “When Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi gave the clarion call last year, the nation saw an unprecedented and overwhelming response from the entire country. Over 76,000 women in 7028 villages across the country last year took to the streets to raise their voice against child marriage in just one single day. This consultation will be held in 20 states and is another step towards realising our collective dream to make India child marriage free by 2030. To fight and uproot child marriages completely, we need a multipronged and multidimensional strategy. Through these consultations, we aim to bring together the various stake holders so that they can work in tandem to fight this crime. We will leave no stone unturned in our fight against this social evil and commitment shown by one and all only strengthens our determination and zeal.” The consultation is also supported by Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation.
Underlining the importance of collective efforts of all stakeholders to combat child marriage as well as emphasising that education alone is a major tool that can help eradicate child marriage completely, ACS Radha Raturi affirmed, “To ensure that child marriages are fought and combated effectively, we need to make a collective action plan and also need to work with the vulnerable children to ensure no injustice is done to them.”
DGP Ashok Kumar discussed the various challenges that come in the way when dealing with the issue of child marriage and acknowledged the urgency to implement ideas to combat the problem. “It is ironic that while we are fighting this social evil, child marriage is socially accepted in the society even when it is wrong, both, ethically as well as legally. It is definitely a tough task but we all need to work together to make everyone aware of the consequences of this evil as well as ensure that the laws are enforced effectively and extensively.”
Prashant Arya, Additional Secretary, Women Empowerment & Child Development, emphasised the need for a cohesive approach. “Child marriage is deeply rooted in our society. We have to make everyone aware and sensitise the masses that, while this social evil impacts children, it goes on to destroy not just their childhood but their entire lives.”
According to the Census 2011 report, 51,57,863 girls in India and around 54,858 children were married off before turning 18 in Uttarakhand. This is a cause of grave concern and requires immediate action to protect young girls from the evil of child marriage. The National Family Health Survey-V (NFHS 2019-21) reports that nationally 23.3% women between the age group of 20-24 were married off before attaining the age of 18. While, Uttarakhand reported 9.8% of women in the same age group were married before the age of 18.
