In India, 35% of females marry before reaching the age of 21. In certain states, the situation is dire. According to the data on maternal mortality, the majority of maternal deaths occur in the lower age category. Although India’s maternal mortality ratio improved to 113 in 2016-18 from 130 in 2014-2016, it remains well behind the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) objective of 70 deaths per 100,000 live births. According to the Global Childhood Report produced by the UK-based NGO Save the Children, child marriage frequency in India is still greater in rural regions than in urban areas, with statistics of 14.1 percent and 6.9 percent for rural and urban areas, respectively, for the age range 15-19 years.

Jaya Jaitley committee

• In 2020, the Ministry of WCD established a task group to investigate the relationship between the age of marriage and concerns of women’s nutrition, anaemia prevalence, IMR, MMR, and other social indicators.
• The committee was to investigate the possibility of raising the marriage age and its implications for women’s and children’s health, as well as how to improve women’s access to education.

 Recommendations of Jaya Jaitley committee

• Based on comments from young adults from 16 colleges around the country, the committee has suggested raising the marriage age to 21 years.
• The committee also requested that the government investigate improving females’ access to schools and universities, including transportation to these institutions from remote places.
• Skill and business training, as well as sex education in schools, have also been proposed.
• According to the committee, these deliverables must come first since the law would be ineffective until they are implemented and women are empowered. 

What is the minimum age of marriage?

• Personal laws that govern marriage and other personal practices for communities prescribe certain criteria for marriage, including age of the bride and groom. For example, Section 5(iii) of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, sets a minimum age of 18 for the bride and 21 for the groom. This is the same for Christians under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 and the Special Marriage Act.
• For Muslims, the criteria is attaining puberty, which is assumed when the bride or groom turns 15.

Benefits

• Gender-neutrality: With this decision, the government will equalise the marriage age for men and women.
• Complications of motherhood: Early marriage and, as a result, early pregnancies have an influence on the nutritional levels of mothers and their children, as well as their general health and emotional welfare. Mother and Child Mortality: It also has an effect on Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate.
• Socioeconomic Benefits: Raising the legal age for women to marry has several social and economic benefits, including:
  • Reducing Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR)
  • Nutritional enhancements
  • On the financial front, chances for women to seek higher education and employment and become financially powerful will be expanded, resulting in a more egalitarian society.
• More female labour force involvement: raising the marriage age raises the mean marriage age, resulting in more females graduating and so enhancing the female labour force participation ratio.
• Women’s empowerment: The ruling will benefit women who have been denied access to school and employment because of an early marriage.
• Protection from abuse: This effectively prohibits the marriage of young females and the abuse of minors.
• Female graduation rates will rise by at least 5-7 percentage points from their present level of 9.8 percent.
• Women will have the financial means to make decisions.

Way forward

• Changing one’s thinking: Any ground-level transformation will occur only when people’s psyches shift. No law is effective unless internal change occurs.
• Getting rid of stereotypes: Raising the legal marriage age is a requirement, even if it means breaking the notion that women are more mature than males of the same age and hence should be permitted to marry earlier.
• Reconsidering the time limit for repudiation: The time limit for repudiation of marriage by girls should be increased from two to four years. Thus providing more time to rethink over the marriage.

How to structure:

1. Give an intro about average age of marriage of women in India or about the committee
2. Examine why the age was raised
3. Explain how the increase in marriageable age can positively impact women
4. Suggest further measures and conclude

Reference:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/legal-age-marriage-for-women-india-law-7676748