Today, every fourth women surveyed in the age group of 20-24 was married before they turned 18. Child marriage is an age-old social evil, which is prevalent in our society since time immemorial. It has no barriers of caste, culture or religion. India is home to the largest number of child brides in the world with girls as young as 8-year-old are married off to men much older to them. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the problem with increased instances of adolescent girls being married off.
According to the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21), the overall rate of child marriages has dropped from 26.8 per cent (2015-16) to 23.3 per cent. However, it is still high despite laws, programmes and schemes in place to address the issue.
Child marriage brings an abrupt end to a girl’s childhood, on one hand, and threatens her health on the other. It triggers the vicious cycle of inter-generational poor health, thus affecting the economic development of the country.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal target 5.3 calls to eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
The ugly practice of child marriage needs urgent attention by the stakeholders including decision-makers, youth, civil society, media and the citizens of the country. Now is the time to act and come together to eradicate this offence and prevent children from falling prey to this crime.
Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF) along with NDTV launches a pan-India campaign on creating a 'Child Marriage Free India'. The campaign will cover 5,000 villages and engage more than 10 million citizens across the country to spread the message of prevention and prohibition of child marriage.
The primary objective of the campaign is to reduce child marriages by 10 per cent from the current level of 23.3 per cent by end of the campaign in 2025.
The strategy to address child marriage with sustained action includes women leadership and community participation from the villages; bringing focus on girl’s health and nutrition; legal action against child marriage.
The goal is to actively involve 50,000 women leaders to end child marriage and protect 30 million girls who are at a high risk of getting married off before the legal age, by sensitising the family members and strengthening the institutional framework.
Child Marriage Is A Social Evil And Gives Birth To Crimes Like Child Sexual Abuse: Kailash SatyarthiWritten by Aastha Ahuja | Thursday November 03, 2022"Tonight is the beginning of a new sun. While the sun has set across the country, a new sun is rising in our hearts. These torches will end the age-old practise of child marriage and make India a new India. Our sisters and daughters will lead the campaign and we will not stop until we end child marriage", said Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi as he ignited a tor...
- Written by Aastha Ahuja | Wednesday November 02, 2022
Speaking at the launch event of Child Marriage Free India, a pan-India campaign, Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee shared ways to end this evil practise
- Kailash Satyarthi's Appeal: Join The Launch Of Child Marriage Free India Campaign And Create HistoryTeam NDTV | Friday October 14, 2022
Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation will launch the Child Marriage Free India campaign on October 16 with the aim to bring down the percentage of child marriages down to 10 per cent by the end of 2025 from the current 23.3 per cent
- Written by Aishwarya Upadhyay | Saturday May 14, 2022
As part of the Justice For Every Child campaign, a 5-hour special telethon was organised and experts, social workers and celebrities came together to discuss how together the community can help protect the future of India - children.
- Written by Aishwarya Upadhyay | Sunday May 08, 2022
Taapsee Pannu has been sponsoring education of girl children and she lent her support to the #Justice4EveryChild telethon
- Written by Anisha Bhatia | Sunday May 08, 2022
Child sexual abuse and rape is a national crisis. In 2020 itself, nearly 132 children were abused every single day, according to the statistics. Keeping the grim statistics in mind and to provide support to child victims of sexual abuse and rape who are fighting their cases in court, Justice for Every Child campaign was kick-started by the Kailash Satyarthi Children's...
