Government forms committee to revise legal age for marriage for women
India is set to change the legal age for women's marriage as the government has formed a committee that will look into the matter and submit their recommendations by July 31.
The government has asked the committee to examine the correlation of age of marriage and motherhood keeping in mind the health of mothers and infants. The committee has also been asked to find out the impact of the age of marriage on infant mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, total fertility rate, sex ratio at birth and child sex ratio.
The first task includes revisiting the legal age of marriage for Indian women. The legal age of marriage for women is 18 years while it is 21 for men. The child bearing at the lower ages leads to complications that increases the risk of infant and maternal mortality. A report suggested that the higher age of marriage leads to the lesser number of reproductive years for women.
The committee has also been directed to suggest the legislative amendments to support its recommendations. It has also been asked to lay down the time by when the recommendations should be implemented.
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The committee will be led by former Samata Party President Jaya Jaitly and other members include VK Paul, Member, Health, NITI Ayog, members Secretaries Health, Women and Child Development, Law and School Education, independent members Najma Akhtar (New Delhi), Vasudha Kamath (Maharashtra), and Dipti Shah (Gujarat).
-PTC News
