Child marriage is a dangerous burden: Sumitra Mahajan

ALLAHABAD: Child marriage is a dangerous burden, a girl who is not physically or mentally ready, is not mature and does not understand the world must not be burdened with marriage, said speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan. She was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the conference ‘She is the solution: the Summit of grace’, held at Parmarth Niketan of Kumbh Mela, on Monday.
Talking about values that are inculcated in the child, the speaker said, “I come from a humble background but I was inculcated with values that we must not do unto others what we would not like to be done unto us”.Hence, let us ensure proper nutrition, education and sanitation of all women and girls, she appealed.
The Lok Sabha speaker further said, “Our Shakti (women fraternity) doesn’t need empowerment from someone else; they need to recognise that they themselves are the power.”
Satyapal Singh, minister of state for human resource development, lauded the efforts of Parmarth Niketan for raising the issue of child marriage through faith leaders who are spiritual guides to millions. “Our education should be such that it should give information and inspiration. It should educate us and also culture us, inculcating our future generation with values, he said.”
Rita Bahuguna Joshi, minister of women and child development, government of UP, urged women and girls across the state to seize the initiative. “Women and girl must take pride in themselves. Only then will society change,” she said.
Speaking on the occasion, Swami Chidanand Saraswati, president of the Parmarth Niketan said, “This is a very historic coming together as we are at the Sangam to come together to address issues troubling our world”. Today we are here to break our silence and to stand together against child marriage and say yes to education and sanitation of our girl child, he added.
Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, said, “Today we commemorate and remember the Republic of Women of our Mothers. As India became free of colonization so our women and girls need to be free from violence, inequality, stolen childhoods and lack of sanitation”. The power of faith changes how people think and how people act. We are the solution that ails our society such as child marriage, violence against women, menstrual hygiene, she added.
During the summit, ten female Kumbh Mela sanitation workers were honoured with sarees and fifteen community champions were felicitated with certificates and a shawls.
The summit reinforced the fact that while regressive cultural norms were responsible for the prevalence of child marriage, there was no religious basis for the practice.
The summit also honoured champions who successfully prevented child marriage within their communities, including Rekha, a digital awareness champion who prevented her own marriage and Lalmani Vishwakarma, a father who defied societal pressure to protect his children from child marriage. Both these champions belong to Shravasti, which has the highest child marriage prevalence in India at 68.5%.