Child marriage is a major cause for infant deaths and awareness should be created so that people desist from following such practices, said Collector V. Dakshinamoorthy here on Wednesday.
Rally
Speaking after inaugurating a rally against child marriage on Government Boys Higher Secondary School premises in Tiruchengode, he said that people in villages were not aware of the ill-affects of performing child marriages for their daughter. “Child marriage affects the child, the family and the society at a large. It occurs because of community bonding, culture, tradition, superstitious beliefs and persistence of the parents”, he added.
He pointed out that girls who were married before 18 years face problems during delivery and result in death of infants. “Nutritional deficiency, anaemia, sexually transmitted diseases, uterus cancer and other major problems arise”, he added.
The Collector said as per survey carried out across the country in 1981, child marriages were 43.8 per cent, dropped to 37 per cent in 1991, 16 per cent in 2001 while it further dropped to 3.7 per cent in 2011. In Namakkal, 65 child marriages were stopped in 2012-13, while 65 marriages were stopped in 2013-14. Awareness programmes were continuously carried out across the district, particularly among school children and they were also explained about ill-affects of child marriages, he added.
The provisions given in Prohibition of Child Marriage Act were also explained including the sentence for performing such marriages. District Social Welfare Officer Sherin Philip, Tiruchengode Revenue Divisional Officer R. Suman and officials from various departments participated.
