Bikaner: Gram panchayats pledge not to have child marriages

JAIPUR: Villagers of Benisar and Surjansar gram panchayats of Bikaner district took an initiative to stop child marriages. In a formal function organized at government schools on Thursday, they declared their gram panchayats free from child marriages.
The people of the gram panchayats, including girls took pledge not to allow child marriages in their areas in the presence of UNICEF and zila parishad officials.
Two days ago, they conducted a programme in which villagers gathered in a government school in Benisar. "Child marriage is a social evil. We all gathered to fight against it. Still, some child marriages are solemnized secretly in the villages. Now, we have taken a pledge not to allow child marriages any more in our gram panchayats," said Shravan Kumar, sarpanch of Benisar.
He said, "We have tried to spread the message to the villagers that child marriage is one of the root causes of infant mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio and other health issues among girls. Also, it is seen that girls married before 18 often do not get the chance to continue their education."
He said that the villagers have now taken the pledge to create an environment in the panchayat area to educate girl child and to marry the girl only after she completes 18 years of age.
Arvind Ojha, secretary of Bikaner branch of Urmul Trust, an NGO said they have taken some initiatives with the cooperation of gram panchayats. He added that the two gram panchayats' declaration of their panchayats being free of child marriage is a part of the initiative. He said young girls in the panchayats also wanted to get married only after completing 18 years of age.
They have also taken the help of religious leaders in the area and told them about the ill-effects of child marriages on girl's health and her education. "People respect and understand what religious leaders say, so we decided to persuade them not to allow child marriages in their villages," an NGO official said.
Jaipur: Villagers of Benisar and Surjansar gram panchayats of Bikaner district took an initiative to stop child marriages. In a formal function organized at government schools, they declared their gram panchayats free from child marriages.
The people of the grams panchayats, including girls took pledge not to allow child marriages in their areas in the presence of UNICEF and zila parishad officials.
Two days ago, they conducted a programme in which villagers gathered in a government school in Benisar. "Child marriage is a social evil. We all gathered to fight against it. Still, some child marriages are solemnized secretly in the villages. Now, we have taken pledge not to allow child marriages any more in our gram panchayats," Shravan Kumar, sarpanch of Benisar said.
He said, "We have tried to spread the message to the villagers that child marriages is one of the root causes of infant mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio and other health issues among girls. Also, it is seen that girls married in early ages before 18, often do not get the chance to continue education."
He said that the villagers have now taken the pledge to create an environment in the panchayat area to educate girl child and to marry the girl only after she completes her 18 years of age.
An NGO, Urmul Trust, Bikaner secretary Arvind Ojha said that they have taken some initiatives with the cooperation of gram panchayats. He said that the two gram panchayats' declaration of child marriage free gram panchayat is part of the initiative.
He said that the young girls in the panchayats also wanted to get married after completing 18 years of age.
They have taken the help of religious leaders in the area and they persuaded them about the ill-effect of child marriages on girl's health and on her education. "People give respect and understand what religious leaders say, so we decided to persuade them not to allow child marriages in their villages," an NGO official said, working in the village against child marriage for the past two years.