One of the worst types of child exploitation is child marriage. According to the National Family Health
Survey-V (NFHS-V) report for 2019–21, 23.3% of women in the age range of 20–24 years who live in the nation marry before becoming 18 years old.
The Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation hosted a national consultation on a child marriage-free India at the Constitution Club of India in New Delhi. The event’s chief guest was Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister for Women and Children Development and Minority Affairs, was presided by Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace laureate.
Child marriage is a social evil that has persisted in our culture for generations. Throughout the programme, serious talks were on the efforts needed to end child marriage in India. Participating in this Consultation were the chairpersons of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the State Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) of 14 states, their representatives, and more than 100 non-profit organisations. A particular action plan was also created as part of this effort to prevent child marriages in the most affected areas.
On October 16 last year, Shri Kailash Satyarthi began the Child Marriage Free India Campaign to end child marriage in the nation by 2030. It is currently the most remarkable grassroots campaign against child marriage in the whole globe. The movement resulted from Shri Satyarthi’s rallying cry for people to take action against the societal evil of child marriage. The fact that more than 75,000 grassroots women leaders launched the Child Marriage Free India Campaign from 10,000 villages that represented 26 States of the nation was its most notable feature. By 2025, the Child Marriage Free India Campaign wants to see a drop in child marriages from 23.3% to 10%.
Union Minister Smriti Irani said, “Child marriage is a crime, and we have to abolish it totally. The Center supports the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation’s Child Marriage Free India campaign. We’ll put child marriage in the past. The target number should be reduced from 23% to 0%. The government is committed to this.” She referred to Shri Kailash Satyarthi’s initiatives to combat child marriage and remarked, “He is a grassroots person. Satyarthi ji collaborated closely with the government during COVID-19 to ensure the care of orphaned children. Kailash Satyarthi discovered several such youngsters as the government attempted to find and rehabilitate such children. Although citizens must cooperate with the government to prevent child marriage, the law is doing its job. In the battle against child marriage, men must unite as well. The government, all non-profit groups, and the general public must cooperate to eradicate social ills like child marriage from India. To expedite our efforts to eradicate this societal evil, we must produce more people like Kailash Satyarthi.
Girls leading awareness campaigns against child marriage lit the lamp to launch the event officially. These girls have avoided getting married as children for themselves and others. Union Minister Smriti Irani expressed her joy, adding, “Normally, a minister and Nobel Laureate would ignite the candle and open the ceremony. Yet, watching the girls light the lamp on their own is encouraging in this instance. This demonstrates Kailash Satyarthi’s concern for kids.
“Child marriage is a cruel attack on human freedom, dignity, social morality, equality, and inclusiveness,” Kailash Satyarthi declared in front of the distinguished crowd, which included Chairpersons and Members of Child Rights Protection Commissions from across the nation and non-profit organisations. As a nation, we must proactively help victims with rehabilitation, financial support, and legal representation. We urge the government and all political parties to increase the age requirement for free, compulsory education to 18 years to support education for youngsters, especially girls.
Kailash Satyarthi continued, “We view child marriage as a social evil and a criminal offence. In the nation, child marriages resulted in more than 23% of women in the 20 to 24 age range getting married before the legal age of 18. By 2025, we aim to reduce the same to 10% by the year 2025 and to make India child marriage free by 2030.”
