Nationwide Campaign ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ Sees Unprecedented Support Against Child Marriage

The entire nation saw an overwhelming and unprecedented response to the ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ campaign, launched by the Women and Child Development ministry under the Government of India, when lakhs of people thronged streets, schools, and roads in over 50,000 villages in 26 states to participate in programs conducted by Just Rights for Children (JRC) alliance. Villages in 416 districts across the country witnessed awareness drives, pledge-taking ceremonies, candlelight marches, prabhat pheris and road shows against child marriage. In an unprecedented show of solidarity for a social cause, police stations, courtrooms, panchayat members, faith leaders, school children, teachers, children and survivors of child marriage took pledges to end child marriage and report the same. Comprising of over 250 NGO partners in over 416 districts, the JRC alliance has been working in coordination with the state governments and local administrations in these states to eliminate child marriage. The Alliance partners have prevented the child marriages across India through persuasion and legal interventions.

The programmes that spread across the entire country reverberated with pledges such as “I pledge to make every possible effort against child marriage. I pledge to ensure that no child marriage takes place in my family, neighbourhood, or community. I pledge to report any attempt of child marriage to the panchayat and the government officials.”

Applauding the nationwide campaign against child marriage, Just Rights for Children (JRC) Founder Bhuwan Ribhu extended complete support to the government in making this campaign a success in eliminating child marriage from the country.

“I am humbled and grateful for the unwavering support of thousands of men, women, and children who have walked this arduous path to make child marriage a thing of the past. The pain and resilience of millions of girls and mothers, along with the tireless efforts of my colleagues across more than 250 NGOs in the Just Rights for Children alliance, have brought us this historic moment. As we move forward, we look to the government’s leadership at centre and state to cultivate a culture where prevention, protection, and prosecution work in harmony and complement each other, leveraging partnerships to drive lasting behavioural change,” Just Rights for Children (JRC) alliance Founder and child rights activist Bhuwan Ribhu said.

Even though child marriage is illegal as per the Prohibition of Child Marriage (PCMA) Act 2006 and there have been many welfare schemes for the protection and empowerment of girl children in the country, the state of child marriage remains worrying. The National Family Health Survey-V (NFHS 2019-21) reports that nationally 23.3% of women between the age group of 20-24 were married off before attaining the age of 18. The five states with the worst Child Marriage figures are West Bengal (41.6%), Bihar (40.8%), Tripura (40.1%), Jharkhand (32.2%) and Assam (31.8%).

Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Annpurna Devi, launched the national ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ Campaign on November 27 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. She administered a pledge against child marriage to all gram panchayats and schools in the country and the campaign is expected to reach out to 25 crore people. A national portal for the ease of reporting child marriage was also unveiled during the launch.