The government has started working for a major change in the law that has been a point of debate for a long, with the Cabinet approving the proposal to raise women’s legal age of marriage to 21 years from 18.
Keeping the vision of the Constitution on gender equality, the government sees the proposed legislation as a strong measure to bring women on equal footing with men. “As India progresses, further opportunities open up for women to pursue higher education and careers. These are imperatives for lowering Maternal Mortality Rate ((MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and improvements of nutrition levels as well as an increase in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB). These are the main reasons for effecting the proposed legislation,” an official source said.
The move will also allow women to exercise their reproductive rights better, attain psychological maturity before marriage and take decisions on family planning and use of contraceptives.
By amending the erstwhile Sharda Act of 1929, the age of marriage for women was increased from 15 to 18 in 1978. PM Narendra Modi in his speech on Independence Day last year gave the first indication of an upward revision in the age of marriage of girls. For amending ‘The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA)’, the Cabinet approved the introduction of ‘Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021’.
The bill once approved by Parliament will be followed by consequential amendments in laws relating to the age of marriage which include ‘the Special Marriage Act 1954’, personal laws governing marriage of Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and ‘the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969’.
In his Independence Day speech last year, the PM said, “To end malnutrition among girls, to access what should be the age of marriage, we have set up a committee.”
