Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani Tuesday introduced in the Lok Sabha a Bill to increase the legal age of marriage for women and recommended the chair that it be sent to a parliamentary panel for scrutiny. The development comes more than a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the plan in his address to the nation on the 74th Independence Day.
Men in India are legally allowed to get married at the age of 21. The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2021 seeks to raise the legal minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years, equalising it with that of men. It was introduced in the lower house and recommended to a parliamentary panel amid protests from members of Opposition parties.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi defended the government’s decision to increase the marriageable age for women in the country and hit out at his rivals who objected to it.
Addressing a rally in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj, the Premier said the decision shows that the government is committed to “true empowerment of women”. “We are trying to increase the age of marriage of women to 21 years so that they can have time to study and progress. The country is taking this decision for its daughters… it [the decision] has caused pain to some,” the PM said.
It may be noted that last week, the Union Cabinet had given in-principal approval to the proposal to increase women’s legal marriageable age. The approval was granted on the basis of the recommendations received by Niti Ayog last December from a task force which was set up to examine “matters pertaining to the age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate), improvement of nutritional levels and related issues”.
