BHUBANESWAR: Child marriages have marginally dropped in the last five years in Odisha but surprisingly, more boys are getting married before attaining the legal age particularly in rural parts of the State. The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has revealed that there is a drop in underage marriages of girls, from 21.3 per cent (pc) in the survey during 2015-16 to 20.5. Nabarangpur, however, has emerged as a cause of concern as it has registered the highest 39.4 pc of girl child marriages against the State average of 20.5 pc.
On the other hand, men aged between 25 and 29 years who were married before the legal age of 21 were 7.8 pc in urban areas and almost double at 14.8 pc in rural Odisha. Overall, men in the age group accounted for 13.3 pc between 2019 and 2021 as compared to 11 pc between 2015 and 16, a rise of 2.3 pc in underage marriages of boys.
Anti-child marriage activists say that when it comes to child marriages, the focus so far has primarily been on girl children. Ghasiram Panda, national manager of the Ending Child Marriage Programme of Action Aid, said that the interventions designed so far to end child marriages have been girl-centric. “Engagement of boys and men in such interventions has remained very low which is evident in the NFHS data”, he said.
Considering the situation, the Women and Child Welfare Department (WCD) has decided to extend its ‘Advika’ campaign to boys at the village level through the Anganwadi workers.
The campaign was launched last year to provide life skill education to adolescent girls and prevent child marriages. Under it, Sakhi-Sahelis (peer leaders) were identified as who would be responsible for preventing child marriages and linking adolescent girls to social protection schemes and skill opportunities.
“A similar provision will be made for adolescent boys and Anganwadi workers have been asked to identify Sakha-Bandhus (from among adolescent boys) who would not only prevent underage marriages among boys but also sensitise them on importance of education and prevention of gender violence”, said Director of the department, Arvind Agarwal.