Skip to main content

Child marriage crackdown: Dread, dismay in Assam, young mothers rendered helpless

By Srinivas Goli, Shreya Singh* 

The Assam government’s recent efforts towards addressing child marriages in the state appears to be doing more harm than good. Recent weeks have witnessed a brutal crackdown on culprits identified under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO, 2012) and Prevention of Child Marriages Act (PCMA, 2006) in the state of Assam. So far over several thousand arrested under PCMA. Supposedly driven by the underage marriage rate estimate provided by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 released in 2022, the government claims to continue this exercise till the next state elections of 2026.
News reports are rife with incidences of teens bleeding to death during childbirth or committing suicide to evade their parents’ or husbands’ arrests. Dread and dismay pervade the state as young mothers are rendered helpless in the face of sudden arrests of their husbands, who are in most cases, the sole breadwinners of their households. Clearly, the legislative actions of the state have served to only worsen the situation.
A viable reason for this is that mere legislative action, that too ex post facto, breeds a sense of fear and helplessness, inducing individuals to conceal and adopt illegal means in order to evade being arrested.
If the cause of concern motivating this legislative frenzy are high maternal mortality ratios and teenage pregnancy rates, then emphasis should be laid upon providing access to contraception and maternal health care, increasing education, providing job opportunities and financial independence to women. Enabling provisions such as these provide women with the agency to exercise personal choice, bodily autonomy and postpone births to higher ages.
Moreover, teenage pregnancies, maternal and infant mortality are not solely driven by age at marriage. The cause and effect relationship of child marriage and maternal and child health outcomes are more complex than stated. They are responses to a variety of factors at play, the most prominent of which is poverty and lack of access to education. In fact, age at marriage itself is determined by the poverty and lack of access to education. Below, we have explained some of these issues in detail.

What is causing child marriage in Assam

Research demonstrates that the reasons for child marriage in India are heterogeneous across the states. In case of Assam, cultural factors play a key role along-side poverty and lack of access to education. Assam along with parts of West Bengal have precarious, uncertain and unsustainable livelihoods primarily attributable to factors specific to local geographies. Communities often mobile and comprise huge migrant population.
Under this uncertain circumstance, inadequate access to education for children and coupled with poverty makes them vulnerable to marry off young girls get rid of burden and also as a matter of protection and safety. And, location of Muslims in such poverty-stricken locations is higher compared to Hindus.
Although, religion-wise differences in child marriage rates are greater in Assam compared to other states, it is difficult to say religion in itself is causing child marriage. If religion is the major reason for child marriage, why the situation is different in Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh and other states. The presentation of National Family Health Survey data in Figure 1 suggest that child marriage rates among Hindus is more compared to Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir.
From Figure 2, we found a strong correlation between no schooling and child marriage rates across the districts of Assam. Similarly, the percentage of woman had teenage birth in Assam is about six times higher among no schooling mothers compared to those who are 12 or more years of schooling.

Does child marriage is the sole reason for poor maternal and child health outcomes?

Child marriage certainly deepens the problems of poor and lower educated women, especially in terms of maternal and child health outcomes. However, the mechanisms through which child marriage affects socio-economic and health outcomes of women and their children are more complex.
For instance, Figure 3 suggest lack of a minimum of 10 years of schooling results in poor maternal health care uptake, while from the Figure 2, it is evident that child marriage is positively associated with the lack of schooling.
Furthermore, a careful observation of the infant mortality rate (IMR) prevalence in Figure 4 for the state of Assam suggest that the differences by schooling several times higher compared to the differences by mother’s age at first birth and religion.

Way forward

The Assam government’s recent efforts towards addressing child marriages in the state through legal means and force are doing more harm than good. Such futile legislative crackdown, worsening vulnerabilities of those who already suffering from extreme poverty, illiteracy and poor maternal health outcomes.
Careful study of the data suggests that legal measures such as PCMA can make marriages clustering around 18 or just after crossing 18 years. And, marriage after reaching 18 years of age is not a magic milestone which results into socio-economic and health outcomes for women and their children.
However, exercising harsh legal arms to curb down child marriages retrospectively, plunges women into further throes of deprivation, trapping an entire generation into a vicious cycle of poverty and compromise seeking essential social safety programmes including maternal and child health care services. Moreover, existing law on PCMA doesn’t support its retrospective application.
Once a marriage is consummated, the law considers it to be valid and children born out of such unions enjoy all legal rights. It is imperative that the focus shifts back to improving women’s access to education, job opportunities, contraception and maternal and child health care services for better holistic socio-economic and health outcomes and draw a way to each sustainable development goals.
---
*Srinivas Goli is associate professor, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai; Shreya Singh is student, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. A version of this article was first published in The Wire

Comments

TRENDING

'Very low rung in quality ladder': Critique of ICMR study on 'sudden deaths' post-2021

By Bhaskaran Raman*  Since about mid-2021, a new phenomenon of extreme concern has been observed throughout the world, including India : unexplained sudden deaths of seemingly healthy and active people, especially youngsters. In the recently concluded Navratri garba celebrations, an unprecedented number of young persons succumbed to heart attack deaths. After a long delay, ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) has finally has published a case-control study on sudden deaths among Indians of age 18-45.

Savarkar in Ahmedabad 'declared' two-nation theory in 1937, Jinnah followed 3 years later

By Our Representative One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Reject WHO's 'draconian' amendments on pandemic: Citizens to Union Health Minister

By Our Representative  Several concerned Indian citizens have written to the Union Health Minister to reject amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022, apprehending this will make the signatories surrender their autonomy to the “unelected, unaccountable and the whimsical WHO in case of any future ‘pandemics’.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Union Health Ministry, FSSAI 'fail to respond' to NHRC directive on packaged food

By Our Representative  The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has expressed deep concern over the adverse health effects caused by packaged foods high in salt, sugar, and saturated fats. Recognizing it as a violation of the Right to Life and Right to Health of Indian citizens, the quasi-judicial body called for a response from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regarding its selection of front-of-pack labels aimed at providing consumers with information to make healthier choices.

Why is electricity tariff going up in India? Who is the beneficiary? A random reflection

By Thomas Franco*  Union Ministry of Power has used its power under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to force States to import coal which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity production and every consumer is paying a higher tariff. In India, almost everybody from farmers to MSMEs are consumers of electricity.

SC 'appears to foster' culture of secrecy, does not seek electoral bond details from SBI

By Rosamma Thomas*  In its order of November 2, 2023 on the case of Association for Democratic Reforms vs Union of India contesting constitutional validity of electoral bonds, the Supreme Court directed all political parties to give particulars of the bonds received by them in sealed covers to the Election Commission of India. SC sought that information be updated until September 2023. 

British companies export 'deadly' asbestos to India, other countries from offshore offices

Inside a UK asbestos factory in 1994 before the mineral was banned By Rajiv Shah “The Sunday Times”, which forms part of the powerful British daily, “The Times”, has raised the alarm that though the “deadly” asbestos is banned in Britain, companies registered in United Kingdom, and operating from other countries, “are involved in shipping it to developing nations”, especially India. India, Brazil, Russia and China account for almost 80% of the asbestos consumed globally every year, it adds.