CORRESPONDENT
MANGALDAI: A refresher training on the Prevention of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) and Child Protection for different stakeholders was held at Deputy Commissioner Office in Darrang on Friday. This training was organized by Indo Global Social Service Society (IGSSS), UNICEF in collaboration with the District hub for Empowerment of Women, District Social Welfare department aiming at timely intervention for checking the growing child marriage cases in the aspirational district.
Addressing the participants as the chief guest of the inaugural session, Deputy Commissioner Pranab Kumar Sharmah threw light on the root causes of child marriage and its effects on the society as a whole. He said that child marriage finally leads to increase in Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR ) and Infant Mortality Rate ( IMR ) and anaemia among women.
He further said that the girls who marry early are deprived of their rights for their health as well as education. He stressed the need of identifying the pockets where child marriage cases are on the rise and intervene in those areas on priority through relevant government schemes to check such cases.
Participating in the session Superintendent of Police Prasanta Saikia stated that Darrang police is keeping vigil and monitoring the helpline numbers and acting accordingly in a time bound manner. Rajlakhi Deuri District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO), Sushmita Borpujari, Secretary DLSA and Mouchumi Kalita, District Mission Coordinator also spoke on the occasion.
Earlier Jyotika Deka, District Coordinator of IGSSS, while explaining the objectives of the programme said that the realization of PCMA act is important not only for women but also for men and other family members of the women so that they should understand that marrying girl early is illegal and will have legal repercussion. Likewise, child protection is also important so that issues relating to child labour and trafficking can be brought down. Different stakeholders including CDPOs , Anganwadi Supervisors, representatives of Nehru Yuva Kendra , Child Line, Elementary Education Department and others attended the daylong training.
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