NEW DELHI — Around
259 districts in the country, almost one-third of the total 800 districts, have
a higher rate of child marriage than the national average, the Parliament was
informed on Friday.
In a reply in Lok Sabha, Women and Child Development
Minister Annapurna Devi said as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB),
1,002 cases were registered in 2022 under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act
(PCMA), 2006.
She said the number of cases registered under the PCMA was
501, 525, 785 and 1,050 in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.
The Minister said a 'Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat/Child Marriage
Free Bharat' portal, an online platform dedicated to supporting the campaign's
vision by raising awareness, preventing child marriages, and facilitating the
effective reporting of such incidents, has also been launched by the
government.
This will act as a centralised platform which can provide
information about Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) at the central
level, awareness programmes conducted and facilitate reporting of child
marriage incidences, she said.
Since the enactment of the PCMA Act, 2006, the prevalence of
child marriage has been reduced by half from approximately 47 per cent as per
the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) in 2005-06 to approximately 23.3 per
cent during 2019-21 as per NFHS-5.
The Minister noted that a few States have a higher
prevalence of child marriage compared to the national average.
"According to the NFHS-5 data, there are around 259
districts in the country where the rate of child marriage is higher than the
national average," he said.
Highlighting government efforts to counter child marriages,
the Minister said the 'Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat/Child Marriage Free Bharat' portal
launched on November 27 this year coincided with a national-level training
session for all Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs), for both attending
physically and virtually, to enhance their effectiveness in this initiative.
The 'Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat' campaign is one of the most
important imperatives to promote education, skilling, enterprise and
entrepreneurship among girls and women to realise the vision of a 'Viksit
Bharat', she said.
