Bal Vivah Mukht Bharat Abhiyan

Bal Vivah Mukht Bharat Abhiyan

The Ministry of Women and Child Development recently launched the Bal Vivah Mukht Bharat Abhiyan, a national campaign aimed at eradicating child marriage in India. This initiative aligns with India’s commitment to gender equality and the broader vision of a developed nation by 2047.

Key Highlights:

• Child Marriage Free Bharat Portal: This platform allows citizens to report child marriage incidents, file complaints, and access information about Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) nationwide.
• CMPO Role: CMPOs are responsible for preventing child marriages, collecting evidence, counseling against marriages, raising awareness, and sensitizing communities.
• Pledge Against Child Marriage: The campaign encourages citizens to pledge against child marriage, empowering every daughter in the country and aiming to foster a fair and just society.
• Target Areas: The campaign focuses on states with high child marriage rates, such as West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Tripura, Assam, and Andhra Pradesh.
• Achievements: The campaign highlights the progress made in women’s empowerment, including the improvement of the sex ratio at birth, which increased from 918 in 2014-15 to 930 in 2023-24.

• Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006: This Act sets the legal marriage age at 18 for women and 21 for men. Section 16 of the Act allows states to appoint CMPOs for specific areas.
• Amendment Bill: The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 sought to raise the legal marriage age for women to 21, aligning it with men’s age, but it lapsed after the 17th Lok Sabha dissolution.
• POCSO Act: Men marrying girls below 14 years of age are booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, while those marrying girls aged 14-18 are booked under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

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