SC and ST Tribes Practices highest Rate of Girl Child Marriage in India

As per a report released by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the girl child of the Scheduled Tribes and the Scheduled Castes are being married off at a very tender age in India. In Scheduled Tribes it is 15 per cent and in Scheduled Castes it is 13 per cent.

The report has been prepared based on a comparative study of the third and fourth rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NHFS) which were conducted in 2005-2006 and 2015-16. A research agency named Young Lives India, in collaboration with the NCPCR, has prepared this report. The girl children between the age group of 15-19 have been taken into consideration for this particular report.

This report also states that this phenomenon is largely evident among the top 10 states with the highest prevalence of child marriage. Such states include West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

If the state with the highest rate of SC girl child marriage is to be named then that is West Bengal and the state with the highest rate of ST girl child marriage is Arunachal Pradesh. On the other hand, the state with the highest rate of girl child marriage is none other than Maharashtra.

There are other states like Bihar, Gujarat and Telangana which is termed by the report as the state with high percentage of OBC girl child marriage. These states are seen to have to get its girls married below the age of 18.

But there are instances of improvements as well. In states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, there is a substantial reduction in the girl child marriage rate.

The report further shows that in comparison to the cities and town, the rural areas show the highest rate of girl child marriage. The states that practice girl child marriage even in its urban areas are Manipur, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.