Telangana: Will end child marriage by 2030
Hyderabad: From more POCSO courts in districts with high prevalence of child marriage to laws to protect child protection officers and strengthening child protection committees at the village level, speakers at a day-long consultation organized on National Girl Child Day in Hyderabad on Wednesday Said – There were many solutions to propose.
With the aim of ending child marriage in Telangana by 2030, various government departments including Women and Child Development (WCD), State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) and TS Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) along with Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA ) also includes. Various challenges and solutions in combating child marriage and child sexual exploitation were discussed.
SCPCR President Srinivas Rao highlighted the need to strengthen child protection committees at the village level. He said, “Child marriage has been one of the biggest challenges in developing countries for centuries. As part of TSCPCR, we need to strengthen Village Child Protection Committees (VCPCs) by collaborating with all stakeholders. Monitoring mechanisms for each committee and stakeholders should be formalized.
Appreciating the way the state government has stepped up this fight to end child marriage, BBA Executive Director Dhananjay Tingal said: “The way the Telangana government has taken up this issue is very promising. Only through such convergence and multi-pronged strategies can we fight and eliminate child marriage by 2030. Through these consultations, we aim to bring together various stakeholders so that they can work together to fight this crime.
The Telangana government on October 16 had sent a notification to its Panchayati Raj Department, SLSAs and WCDs to participate in the Child Marriage Free Telangana initiative in which thousands of people pledged to end child marriage by 2030. This is in continuation of the consultation campaign. And it aims to bring all the stakeholders in Telangana on a single platform and prepare an action plan for the state.
’20-24 year old girls get married early’
According to the National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS 2019-21), 23.3% of girls aged 20-24 said they were married before the age of 18. Meanwhile, Telangana’s data is slightly higher than the national average of 23.5% and the state government has stepped up its efforts to ensure that minor children in the state are not married before the legal age.
