BENGALURU: Karnataka Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar on Wednesday blamed social media for increasing number of teenage pregnancies in the state. Replying to a question in the Assembly, she said in the last three years, the state has reported 1,799 underage pregnancies, and one of the reasons is social media.
In all, 405 cases were reported in 2022-23, 709 in 2023-24 and 685 in 2024-25. The increase is because of children’s excessive use of social media and their tendency to fall in love at a tender age. Changing family dynamics and child marriages too are to be blamed, she said.
JDS MLA Suresh Babu demanded that the state government have some control over social media. “Many a time, unsavoury advertisements pop up while children are using social media. Children should be provided proper sex education,” he said.
When he said over 26,000 minor girls have become pregnant in the last 10 months, Hebbalkar said the number looks alarming, but she did not know whether it is correct. But the MLA said many cases go unreported. He alleged that in the last four months, over 900 girls have been raped.
Women’s safety: Akka Pade from Aug 15
Vasudeva Sharma NV, Executive Director, Child Rights Trust, agreed that social media is one of the main reasons for increasing teen pregnancies. He said the internet has penetrated every village and regulating the use of social media is challenging. Some suicides too are linked to the use of social media, he said.
He said there is something called self-generated porn, where a boy or man would ask a girl to send her nude photos which he might leak to his friends. The girl would then be blackmailed into giving sexual favours. This horrific trend is not limited to urban areas, but also rural parts. “Young girls should be provided life skills training that includes safe use of the internet,’’ he added.
Meanwhle, Laxmi Hebbalkar said to ensure women’s safety, the government will launch Akka Pade (Akka task force) in major cities where a vehicle with women police will patrol near colleges, markets and other places. From August 15, these Pades will be started in Mysuru, Belagavi and Mangaluru. The vehicle will have women police officials and NCC cadets.
