Increasing the minimum age for marriage of women to 21 years

The Central Government is set to introduce a Bill in the Parliament to raise the marriageable age of women to 21 years. This Bill, if passed, will amend the provisions of The Hindu Marriage Act (1955), The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2006) and various other related Acts, which prescribe 18 years as the minimum age of marriage for women. This step of Central Government has been hailed by many as a progressive step towards lowering of women mortality rates, improving nutrition levels and ensuring opportunities for women to pursue higher education and professional careers. However, upon closer examination of the various facets of this issue, we get a different picture altogether. Firstly, while there is a greater prevalence of stunting and low weight among children born to adolescent mothers, experts argue that the underlying cause is poverty. Secondly, especially in certain parts of our country, there is always a haunting fear of rape and sexual assault because of which girls are married off early. Further, marrying them off early is also seen by their parents as a solution to deal with poverty and escalating dowry demands, especially among poor and marginalized communities. In this regard, it is worth noting that according to National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021), 23.3% of women aged 20-24 years were married before the age of 18, which indicates that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (2006) has not been successful in preventing child marriages. Under such circumstance, increasing the legal age of marriage for girls will only expand the number of persons deemed underage and render them without legal protection, which appears to be a bit unfair considering the present socio-economic condition of our country. Moreover, it is also seen nowadays that the new generation of educated women are developing more agency in decisions considering their lives than earlier. There is much more questioning and even resistance to the concept of early marriage among them, and instances of adolescents rebelling against their parents and societal pressures are grappling headlines. This observation is implicitly underscored by the data released in 2019 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation which states that the mean age of marriage in India has raised to 22.1 years. Therefore, it can be concluded that if more thrust is put towards improving access to education, skill training and employment opportunities for girls, then the objectives intended against this Bill can be achieved even without its passage and implementation. Mihir Kumar Chowdhury Ist Semester