Hanamkonda: Call to declare November 1 as Child Marriage Prohibition Day

Hanamkonda: Although the phenomena of child marriages has come down significantly with the passage of time, but it still exists considerably in some pockets of the country, Child Welfare Committee Chairperson Mandala Parashuramulu said.

Speaking as the chief guest at a programme that sought the Central government to declare November 1 as the National Child Marriage Prohibition Day here on Friday, he said that there needs to be a cohesive effort to prevent the child marriages that ruin the lives of kids. It may be mentioned here that the programme was jointly organised by the Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) and the Childline 1098 urging the Centre to observe the National Child

Marriage Prohibition Day on November 1. As part of the programme, the organisers launched a signature campaign besides releasing wall posters that depict the adverse effects of child marriages.

Dwelling at length about the child marriages, he said that reasons such as tradition, poverty, fear of insecurity have been forcing parents to get their wards wedded early.

Quoting a recent National Family Health Survey that states nearly 32 per cent of weddings were child marriages, Parashuramulu said that these children were exposed to several health and family-related problems.

Early marriages have also been a major cause of worry in 45 per cent women as they suffer from uterus related diseases, he added.

"Child marriage is nothing but violation of child rights, and it needs to be prevented with the cooperation of line departments and NGOs," he said, stressing the need for declaring November 1 as the National Child Marriage Prohibition Day, so that awareness can be achieved among the people about child protection mechanisms.

CWC Member K Manjula, Child Protection Officer S Praveen, Childline Coordinator Ragi Krishnamurthy, GAA Coordinator B Karuna, Project Officer Erra Srikanth, Sathish, Siddhartha, Godadevi, Jnaneshwari, advocate Sudha, FMM Social Service Society representatives Ajay and Jamuna were among others present.