NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet has passed a proposal in view of raising the legal age for marriage of women in India from 18 years to 21 years which will be the same as men's legal age of marriage.
From now onwards the minimum age for marriage for both men and women will be 21.
The clearance of this bill comes over a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the plan on the day of Independence in the year 2020.
The proposal to increase the legal marriage age of women from 18 to 21 is based on the suggestions and guidance by a task force that is set by the central government with the objectives of examining issues pertaining to a correct age of motherhood, improvement of nutritional levels and imperatives of lowering Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR).
The task force headed by former Samata Party member, Jaya Jaitly recommended the bill after massive consultations and discussions with experts on the particular field. The task force also consulted with the young adults mainly young women to whom the decision of marriage age affects the most.
Jaitley informed that this step is not to control the population as according to the data released by National Family Health Survey (NFHS) the population is under control and the Total Fertility Rate is also decreasing. She said the initiative is meant to empower women across the country.
The task force got engaged with 15 NGOs to connect with the young adults and it has received feedbacks from sixteen universities in different parts of the country. It has particularly tried to get connected with those in the marginalized and rural community mainly residing in some of the districts of Rajasthan where child marriage appears to be widely prevailing.
The task force has successfully got feedbacks from rural and urban locations equally which were much helpful in evaluation however the task force even faced rejections and objections from certain areas.
This task force was founded in June 2020 by the Ministry of Women and Child development along with Niti Aayog and Dr. V.K Paul, secretaries of Women and Child Development, Legislative department and Ministries of Health and Education.
The committee also made recommendations for formalizing sex education and introducing it in the school curriculum. In ensuring that the raise in marriage age can be implemented the committee even recommended the enhancement of skills & business training and training of women in polytechnic institutes.
On the other hand, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa sarma taking to his Koo handle wrote, "I wholeheartedly welcome the decision of Union Cabinet headed by Adarniya PM Shri Narendra Modi ji to increase the age bar for marriage of girls from 18 yrs to 21 yrs. This is a historic decision towards empowering women by helping them achieve greater goals in life."
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