Vijayawada: Mahila Commission hails Union Cabinet's decision

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Mahila Commission chairperson Vasireddy Padma has welcomed the Union Cabinet's decision of raising the marriage age of women from 18 years to 21 in the country.

Vasireddy Padma felt there is a need to amend the laws related to the child marriages and individual rights in the country.

Interacting with the media on Thursday, the Mahila Commission chairperson said the Union Cabinet's decision to raise the marriage age of women is based on the recommendations made by the Task Force of the Niti Ayog. She felt that the decision was taken after consideration of maternal mortality rate, malnutrition and maternal age.

She said the debate on the girls' marriage age had been continuing over a period of time and finally the Union Cabinet took a decision on it.

She said there may be difference of opinion on the Union Cabinet's decision but it should be welcomed.

She said child marriages are taking place secretly in spite of the laws enacted by the government. The Cabinet decision would be useful to the girls to pursue higher education. She added that the opinion of people is gradually changing on the birth of the girl child in society.

She said the girls' literacy rate is gradually increasing but it is up to high school only. She expressed concern that the percentage of girls in higher education is lesser compared to the school education. She felt that many parents try to get their daughters married after completion of tenth standard or Intermediate. But this perception would change with the raising of girls marriage age to 21 years. She opined that increasing woman's marriage age to 21 years is a major step towards the development of the country. She said many surveys said the maternal mortality and infant mortality would come down, if the marriage age increased to 21 and added that stringent measures should be taken to provide protection to women till the marriage.