Jan Vikas Sansthan (JVS) is dedicated to the development of the deprived people ,backward and poor rural women, child labour, victims of trafficking and violence for Health, Education, water, sanitation, hygiene, Family Planning and safe abortion, Food, Nutrition and social security, Sustainable agriculture of Jaunpur and Azamgarh district Uttar Pradesh. The organization is working on the following issue of Child Marriage, Child Trafficking, Child Labour and Child Sexual Abuse, Legal and counselling support to POCSO Case victims. The organization participated and organized Child Marriage Free India Campaign in Azamgarh district of Uttar Pradesh covering over Block- Thekma and 50 villages under the project Access to Justice Project Phase Two with support of Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation.
The Campaign Activities included:
- Awareness for elimination of child labour, child marriage , child sexual abuse, child trafficking to Anganwadi worker, Mata Samiti, Adolescent group, SHGs Group members, Community others Male and Female, School teachers and Students,
- June and November Action Month -Jan Vikas Sansthan conducted the action month with the objective of Child labour Free Azamgarh and Rescued 14 children from shops and Dawa and14 FIRs got registered and children were present before CWC and sent to Home . The campaign was conducted in collaboration with Dhawa Dal and Police, and child line departments and covered by news paper with an outreach of 10,000 directly and 5000 through online.
- 16 October 2023 – Child Marriage Free India Campaign Event – The campaign event was conducted in more than 50 village in collaboration with all line departments (ICDS, SHGs, Adolescent girl group, community people, school teacher and students , Government officials )
Campaign highlights: Candle light and Torch Fire Rally, Prabhat Ferri in 50 villages villages, Signature Campaign Gram Panchayat Level to District Level covering all district offices, Poster and Banner release and distribution, Book Release of “When Children have Children.” by District Probation officer abd also book was given to DM, SDM, SP,DSP, ADCPU,Child marriage survivour, ICDS, DPO.
- Pledges done against child marriage –
- TO aware community for elimination of child labour, child marriage , child sexual abuse, child trafficking
- Nukkad Natak show in all the 50 village for awareness to community for elimination of child labour, child marriage , child sexual abuse, child trafficking
- Identification of child labour and children out of school done for admission in school.
- Parents UNDERTAKING has take for not to Marry their Girl before 18 years of age and Boys before 21 years of age
8 ALL the Mukhiya and Sarpanch have taken PLEDGE and Signed for making Child Marriage Free Panchayat
9 District ,Block,Panchayat and Ward level Child Protection Committee (CPC) has Formed and their capacity has been done ,
- Wall writing and hoarding at important place like school,panchayat bhawan,water tank, temple, masjid for child marriage free INDIA
Background
Child marriage is not just an age-old social evil, but also a heinous crime that robs children of their childhood. Child marriage is a “crime against children” that violates basic human rights, minor girls are forced to marry and live a life of mental trauma, physical and biological stress, domestic violence including limited access to education and increased vulnerability to domestic violence. The consequences of child marriage are severe and extensive. Some of the specific consequences include: early pregnancies leading to complications and higher rate of maternal mortality and death of infants, malnutrition among both the infant and the mother, increased vulnerability to reproductive health, disruption in girl’s education and thereby reduction in opportunities of her personal and professional development, domestic violence and abuse, limited decision making powers in the household, and mental health issues.
India’s Census 2011 revealed 12 million children were married before attaining the legal age, of which 5.2 million were girls. Globally, child marriage is identified as a crime and a menace that needs to be eliminated. It finds space in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, under target 5.3 of Goal 5 that states elimination of all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation by 2025.
The latest National Family Health Survey (2019-21) shows that although there is a drop in the overall rate of child marriages, from 26.8% in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) to 23.3% in NFHS-5, it is still high despite laws, programmes and schemes in place to address the issue.
Child Marriage Free India Campaign
Understanding the seriousness of the issue, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in W.P. Civil 382 of 2013 pronounced that the sexual intercourse committed by the husband upon his wife being under the age of 18 years with or without her consent can be constituted as rape. To address this, the most definitive and audacious commitment to end child marriage was made with the launch of Child Marriage Free India campaign.
Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) is a nationwide campaign led by women leaders and a coalition of more than 160 NGOs spanning more than 300 districts working to eliminate child marriage in India. CMFI is working to attain the tipping point of child marriage, after which the society does not accept this evil practice and that will happen when the prevalence of child marriage is brought down to 5.5% by 2030, from the current national prevalence rate of 23.3%. This is being done by initially targeting 257 high-prevalence districts and gradually focusing on all the districts of the country.
Child marriage results in child rape, resulting in child pregnancy, and in a large number of cases, may lead to child deaths. For decades, we have been losing generations of our children to child marriage. The Child Marriage Free India campaign has received extended support from various Departments and Institutions of over 28 States. So far, across India more than 5 crore people have taken the pledge to end child marriage over the last one year through the efforts of the Child Marriage Free India Campaign.
Know more about the Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) Campaign: https://www.childmarriagefreeindia.org/
Background
Child marriage is not just an age-old social evil, but also a heinous crime that robs children of their childhood. Child marriage is a “crime against children” that violates basic human rights, minor girls are forced to marry and live a life of mental trauma, physical and biological stress, domestic violence including limited access to education and increased vulnerability to domestic violence. The consequences of child marriage are severe and extensive. Some of the specific consequences include: early pregnancies leading to complications and higher rate of maternal mortality and death of infants, malnutrition among both the infant and the mother, increased vulnerability to reproductive health, disruption in girl’s education and thereby reduction in opportunities of her personal and professional development, domestic violence and abuse, limited decision making powers in the household, and mental health issues.
India’s Census 2011 revealed 12 million children were married before attaining the legal age, of which 5.2 million were girls. Globally, child marriage is identified as a crime and a menace that needs to be eliminated. It finds space in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, under target 5.3 of Goal 5 that states elimination of all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation by 2025.
The latest National Family Health Survey (2019-21) shows that although there is a drop in the overall rate of child marriages, from 26.8% in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) to 23.3% in NFHS-5, it is still high despite laws, programmes and schemes in place to address the issue.
Child Marriage Free India Campaign
Understanding the seriousness of the issue, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in W.P. Civil 382 of 2013 pronounced that the sexual intercourse committed by the husband upon his wife being under the age of 18 years with or without her consent can be constituted as rape. To address this, the most definitive and audacious commitment to end child marriage was made with the launch of Child Marriage Free India campaign.
Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) is a nationwide campaign led by women leaders and a coalition of more than 160 NGOs spanning more than 300 districts working to eliminate child marriage in India. CMFI is working to attain the tipping point of child marriage, after which the society does not accept this evil practice and that will happen when the prevalence of child marriage is brought down to 5.5% by 2030, from the current national prevalence rate of 23.3%. This is being done by initially targeting 257 high-prevalence districts and gradually focusing on all the districts of the country.
Child marriage results in child rape, resulting in child pregnancy, and in a large number of cases, may lead to child deaths. For decades, we have been losing generations of our children to child marriage. The Child Marriage Free India campaign has received extended support from various Departments and Institutions of over 28 States. So far, across India more than 5 crore people have taken the pledge to end child marriage over the last one year through the efforts of the Child Marriage Free India Campaign.
Know more about the Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) Campaign: https://www.childmarriagefreeindia.org/
The Way Forward: PICKET Strategy to End Child Marriage
Addressing the issue of child marriage, requires a comprehensive and coordinated approach of different government departments, institutions, statutory bodies, and civil society organisations .
Tipping Point to end child marriage
WHEN CHILDREN HAVE CHILDREN – TIPPING POINT TO END CHILD MARRIAGE Book authored by Mr Bhuwan Ribhu is an action plan to eliminate child marriage in India by 2030. It looks at the existing data on child marriage and lists 257 districts in India where the issue of child marriage is worst, which means where the occurrence of this evil practice is highest as compared to national numbers.
Tipping Point is the threshold required in an ecosystem needed to tilt the scale of the problem towards a point of no-return. The Tipping Point of Child Marriage is the critical point after which the society does not accept child marriage.
Tipping Point Methodology
The aim of reduction of 60 percent of child marriage is assumed to bring down the incidence of child marriage to 5.5 percent in the next nine years from 2021, from the last available estimates i.e., NFHS-5, till 2030. An additional assumption is that such a focused and elaborate intervention against child marriage would have a ripple effect.
In order to reach the Tipping Point, the Author proposes strategy at national and district level.
- National Level strategy where Governments, Institutions, statutory bodies, etc. work towards prevention, protection, increased investment, improved prosecution, convergence and use of technology for monitoring
- District Level strategy is similar to national level strategy but includes district administration, Panchayats, civil society, NGOs, other functionaries, parents and children who work collectively to prevent, report, and take action against child marriage
Case Study – Preventing Child Marriage
Payal’s story, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh
Payal is 16 year old, living in the Jigarsandi village of Jahanaganj, Azamgarh. My father works in a nearby brick kiln. I lost my mother during the Covid-19 period and my father is now married to another woman, who now takes care of the family. I am an active girl who does all the homely works and helps the family in all the matters as possible.
One day, I heard my step-mother telling my father that now I am now a grown-up and its time that they should marry me off. I also heard that they wanted to marry me off so that they would not have to spend money on my head. I was too devastated to hear this but had no idea what to do to block the marriage. I was also unable to digest the fact that I have become a burden to my family. I was not even out from the fact that my mother is no more, that I am still a young girl not physically, mentally or emotionally ready for a marriage.
In confusion and despair, I approached an Aunt of mine and informed her about the marriage issue. I also told her that I am afraid whether they will marry me off too soon. I told her that I am not ready for marriage. She consoled me saying that I am not yet in the legal age for marriage and this marriage can be stopped. She informed that there is an organization that works to prevent child marriage, and she is in contact with them. She assured me that she will block this marriage from happening. And I went back home with a lot of questions in my mind.
One morning, a JVS staff reached my home and asked my step-mother about my marriage preparations. I understood that this was the organization that my Aunt was talking about. The person who approached my parents convinced my parents against my marriage. They were also told that if the marriage happens forcefully they will have to inform the police and both the parents will be jailed. My parents realized the depth of the issue and decided against marrying me off before I turn 18. My step-mother also told my father that they shall send me to learn tailoring till the time she turns 18. I was so happy to hear that my marriage plan was dropped. I cannot thank enough to the JVS team for what they have done for me.
