Sarpanchs out to make 25 panchayats child marriage free

JAIPUR: Intensifying battle against child marriages, the sarpanches are now taking lead in their areas. The new trend of declaring villages and gram panchayats child marriage free is catching up in the villages.
"To bring child marriages in villages to an end, we have decided to make 25 panchayats child marriage free soon. We have started the process in cooperation with the public representatives in the rural areas," Sumitra Vishnoi, pradhan Bilara tehsil in Jodhpur district said.
She said that when a village is declared child marriage free then the entire village helps in preventing child marriages. Also, such parents invite legal action as it is a crime.
In a meeting ahead of Akha Teej on Friday, government officials, NGOs, social activists gathered in the city and gave suggestions how to stop child marriages in the state.
Akha Teej is a auspicious occasion for marriages and the state government has to step up efforts to stop child marriages on the occasion.
The Women and Child Development department (WCD) is also encouraging the panchayats to take up the child marriage issues on the priority basis. WCD additional director Mukta Arora said in the past year, 56 villages were declared child marriage free in the western parts of the state. These villages were felicitated later.
She said that to prevent child marriages, there is a need to empower girls by educating them and also by allowing them to take their own decisions.
The villagers organized a programme in which they declared the village as child marriage free.
Former sarpanch Bilara tehsil in Jodhpur, Rajuram Damani said that they had constituted a child protecting committee at panchayat level. The committee has created a child-friendly atmosphere in the panchayat area. Also, the committee helps in checking child marriages in the village.
Besides, Unicef expressed the need to educated girl child to bring to an end child marriages in the state. Unicef representative Sulagna Roy said that education could play an important role in preventing child marriages. In cooperation with the government, education among girls should be promoted and girls should be encouraged to continue their education.