RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Dec. 17: As the Union cabinet cleared a proposal to bring uniformity in the marriageable age of men and women by increasing the minimum age of marriage of women from 18 to 21, religious leaders in the Jharkhand capital gave mixed response to it.
“This was not required. When one can get a government job at the age of 18 why not the marriage age be made 18 for both men and women? Now the girl who is ready for marriage at 18 will have to wait for three more years,” said general secretary of Edar-e-Sharia, Maulana Qutubuddin Rizwi.
Ranchi Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas said the decision has both positive and negative aspects.
“Positive aspect is that now the girls will be able to get education till 21 without any pressure from their parents for marriage. They will get married after being more physically and mentally mature,” Bishop Mascarenhas said.
Explaining the negative aspect, Bishop said: “Sometimes early marriage becomes a compulsion for the girls in relationship with matured boys from school or college life. Now they will have to wait for a long time for marriage and in this situation, the frequency of movement of unwed couples will increase and the society may face a different situation due to that.”
Treasurer of South Asia Violence Against Children and a Niti Aayog Standing committee member, Sanjay Mishra, however, welcomed the decision.
“The decision will help empower women and develop a healthier India. It will also help reduce the case of child marriage drastically and give women more time to grow before becoming mothers,” Mishra said.
The decision is based on the recommendation of a four-member task force led by former Samata Party chief Jaya Jaitly. The panel was constituted in June 2020. Its terms of reference included examining the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood with the health of the mother and infant as well as key health and population indicators like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Total Fertility Rate (TFR), Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB), Child Sex Ratio (CSR) etc.
It was also tasked to suggest measures for promoting higher education among women. According to the National Family Health Survey-5, in 2019-2021 23.3% of women in the age of 20 to 24 were married before the age of 18, which is an improvement from 26.8% in 2015-2016.
Following the clearance, a Bill to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006, will be introduced during this session. The proposed Bill may also contain amendments to various personal laws relating to marriage of various communities to ensure a uniform age of marriage.
