Child Marriage Free Bharat Campaign completes One Year

Posted 22 Dec 2025

2 min read

Article Summary

The Child Marriage Free Bharat Campaign marks one year of efforts to reduce child marriages, addressing socio-cultural, economic, and legal challenges, and aligning with global commitments to eliminate early marriage by 2030.

Child Marriages in India

Child Marriage: Refers to marrying a child before attaining adulthood.
- In India, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 prohibits marriages before 18 years of age for females and 21 years for males.
- Globally, Convention on the Rights of the Child defines child as any human below the age of 18 and refers to marriages within this age group as child marriage.
Trends: Dropped from 47.4% (2005-06) to 26.8% (2015-16) to 23.3% (2019-21) as per National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
- Among the states, West Bengal, Bihar and Tripura top in Child Marriage cases.

Key Reasons for Child Marriage

Poverty: Patriarchal Indian society considers girls as an economic burden.
Patriarchy: Girl’s right to education is considered secondary to her labour in household.
Socio-cultural and religious practices: Some religious communities believe marrying girls before attaining puberty as auspicious.

Key Measures taken

Legal: Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 provides for appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officer by States.
Schemes: ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), etc.
Grassroot Initiatives: Surajpur (Chhattisgarh) Model where 75 Panchayats were declared ‘Child Marriage-Free’.
Global Commitments: India is a signatory to United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child (UNCRC); India Committed to achieve SDG 5, for eliminating child, early, and forced marriage, by 2030, etc.