The Union Cabinet has passed a proposal to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years, the same as men. The government will now introduce an amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, and bring amendments to the Special Marriage Act and personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
The proposals have been made on the basis of the recommendations submitted to Niti Aayog by the Centre’s task force, headed by Jaya Jaitly which was constituted to examine the matters pertaining to age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering Maternal Mortality Rate, improvement of nutritional levels and related issues”.
“I want to make clear that our reasoning behind the recommendation was never one of population control. Recent data released by NFHS 5 (National Family Health Survey) have already shown that the Total Fertility Rate is decreasing and the population is under control. The idea behind it (the recommendation) is the empowerment of women,” Jaya said.
In her 2020-21 budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said “Women’s age of marriage was increased from 15 years to 18 years in 1978, by amending the erstwhile Sharda Act of 1929. As India progresses further, opportunities open up for women to pursue higher education and careers. There are imperatives of lowering MMR as well as improvement of nutrition levels. Entire issue about the age of a girl entering motherhood needs to be seen in this light.”
