In a nutshell, child marriage is a social disaster. It is one of the prime causes of population explosion in our country. The prevalence of child marriage is rampant in rural and tribal areas.Koraput being one of the most predominant tribal districts in India, has had dubious distinction of registering maximum number of child marriages.
According to a recent private data, over 90 per cent of girls were married before reaching the legal age of 18 years and almost all of them soon became pregnant in Koraput district.
In Koraput, a village called Tutiaguda, recorded 27 marriages of which 26 were of underaged girls and boys. The marriages took place between 2004 and 2006.
The tribals in Tutiaguda village took a praiseworthy step of deciding to ban child marriage in the village. Earlier, they did not know about the ill effects of child marriage but now they have decided to get their girls married only after 18.
Despite the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, 40 to 50 percent of marriages in India involve a girl under 18 or a boy under 21, the legal ages for marriage. In such a scenario, the step taken by Tutiaguda tribals is remarkable. Others should follow them.
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