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Ideal Marriage Programme - 2006
A proactive step to counter child marriages
Many of you have supported us in
our struggle against child marriage. Since Uchengemma’s (former
President of Bhima Sangha) bold refusal to get married at the age
of 15, a massive campaign against child marriage has been ongoing in
Karnataka, with CWC and Bhima Sangha in the lead. The ‘Say no to Child
Marriage’ campaign, comprising of numerous child and women’s rights NGOs in
Karnataka and India, has managed to bring the issue - usually hidden,
forgotten or believed to be too tough to tackle - to the attention of the
public, the media and the political class of the country. Earlier this
year, the campaign met with the Chief Minister of Karnataka, who promised
to take concrete steps towards eradicating this evil practice.
Our struggle against child
marriage has not been an easy one, despite the law being on our side. Many
members of the community express displeasure and anger over Bhima Sangha’s
and CWC’s actions to prevent child marriages. They have repeatedly told us
not to interfere in their personal matters. "If our children remain
unmarried, are you ready to take their responsibility?" they challenge
us. All the information we have been sharing about the ill effects of child
marriage on children and our extensive discussions have borne some fruit.
Most of all, children themselves, both boys and girls, now have very strong
opinions against child marriage and that has begun to show positive
results.
As a part of this campaign,
Bhima Sangha and CWC had decided to organise an ‘Ideal marriage’ event in
2004 for the first time. That proved to be a proactive step to counter
child marriage. Many of CWC’s friends and supporters had contributed
generously towards the success of that programme, by donating money and encouragement.
This initiative being led by the
members of Bhima Sangha is a concrete, practical and positive step to
reduce the incidence of child marriage in their area. Only if this
initiative is endorsed and supported by all quarters, will it be
successful. It may also prove to be replicable in other regions of India.
We need your support to make this intervention a successful one.
Child marriage is one the most
distressing social maladies of our time. Its practice still continues in
many parts of India, with as many as 65 per cent of the girls in India
getting married by the time they are 18 years of age (According
to the findings of the second survey of the National Family Health held in
1998-99).
Many studies have shown that the
causes of child marriage are numerous and varied, one of them being
economic. In India, marriages are viewed by families as opportunities to
showcase their wealth and status. People from all economic strata feel that
marriages, especially those of their daughters’ stretch their expenditure
far beyond their means. Due to this, many families in Northern Karnataka
prefer to marry off more than one offspring at the same wedding function.
This results in the younger offsprings, often as young as 10 years, being
married off in the same function as their elder sibling. Many families,
view child marriages as a way to cut down costs and to provide some
‘security’ to their children.
Hence ‘Ideal marriages’ have
emerged as an important strategy to counter child marriages.
The couples who are eligible to
get married at the Ideal marriage ceremony have to:
- Provide documentary proof
of age that they are majors according to law. (As per the Child
Marriage Restraint Act 1929, no woman under 18 and no man under 21 are
permitted to get married)
- Register their marriage at
the office of the Sub-registrar.
- Not receive or give dowry.
- Provide a letter from their
respective Panchayats that they have not been married before.
The marriages are simple, cost
effective and informed.
Prior to the event, a health
camp to provide information about responsible sexuality is conducted. The
issues covered include ill-effects of child marriages & marriages among
close relatives; information about family planning and HIV etc.
A booklet on health, sexuality
rights, reproduction and family planning is distributed to each couple.
Each couple is allowed to have
30 guests at the wedding for lunch. A new pair of clothes and marital
jewellery is given to the bride and the groom.
This year (2006), the event was
on August 24th.
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