Nayagarh makes a dent in child marriage, 41 villages dump practice

BHUBANESWAR:  Nayagarh, once infamous for child marriages, has managed to end the scourge in 41 of its villages, thanks to sustained surveillance and awareness drives. It may have been in the limelight for the wrong reasons now but the district has quietly secured a distinction for itself - Nayagarh is officially the only district in the State to have the maximum number of villages that have dumped the practice of child marriage. 

Villages under Nayagarh, Bhapur, Khandapara, Daspalla, Odagaon, Ranpur, Gania and Nuagaon blocks were declared child marriage free by the district administration on December 7. Not a single child marriage was performed in the villages between January 2019 and November 2020, informed Nayagarh Collector Dr Poma Tudu. 

Besides, people of the 41 villages have taken a mass resolution not to allow the practice in their areas, vowed not to give or take dowry and provide equal opportunity of education to both girls and boys.
Odisha, at present, has 90 villages that are child marriage free and 41 of them are from Nayagarh alone. These include five villages under Nabarangpur district, 20 of Mayurbhanj, one in Deogarh, 10 under Boudh and 12 villages under Subarnapur district. On November 14 this year, Udayapur and Salapada villages of Nayagarh district were given the child marriage free tag by the Collector.

Currently, child marriage prevalence in Odisha is 21.3 per cent (pc) against the national average of 26.8 pc. However, across eight districts, including Nayagarh, the rate is higher than the national prevalence, says ActionAid’s National Manager for Prohibition of Child Marriage, Ghashiram Panda who was instrumental in grounding work to make villages free from child marriage at Rugudipalli in Subarnapur district a year and half back.

“Poverty, social pressure and unwillingness to educate the girl child are the reasons that contribute to child marriages in these areas”, said Panda, adding that the Women and Child Welfare department has asked all district collectors to follow the Rugudipalli model in preventing child marriages. 

Last year, the State government had announced to make Odisha child marriage free by 2030 and as a part of its action plan, it has been taking up various measures in collaboration with NGOs and community level organisations in districts where the child marriage rate is above the national average.  

As many as 256 child marriages had been stopped across the State with the joint initiative of district administrations, ActionAid and UNICEF between March 25 and July, ActionAid data says. Majority marriages were attempted at Malkangiri (42), Koraput (42), Keonjhar (23), Ganjam (22), Rayagada (20) and Kandhamal (18).