Kolkata, Jan 21 (IANS): Are the West Bengal Government’s schemes for the girl child failing to meet their primary objective of arresting underage marriages?

As per a recent report in the LANCET, the rate of underage marriages among girls (before the official age of 18) is as high as 41 per cent in West Bengal.

This is not only the highest among all the Indian states but also much above the national average of 22 per cent.

Although the period covered in the survey, from 1993 to 2021, is vast, what is embarrassing for West Bengal is that even during the period between 2016 and 2021, when the welfare schemes for girls were on, there was a marginal increase in the rate of underage marriages.

While the state government has expressed doubts over the findings of the report, officials say that the number of cases being reported in West Bengal is much higher unlike in other states where the incidents of child marriage are more but reporting is low.

However, experts say lack of awareness about the real-time benefit of schemes for the girl child; poverty; the belief in rural areas that early marriages are less costly and in some cases pre-marriage pregnancy of minor girls, are some of the reasons behind their alarming trend.

According to medical-teacher, writer and film-maker Dr Tirthankar Guha Thakurta, “The girl child is often seen as a burden, an unnecessary expense till she is married off. Poverty, cultural norms, poor educational and vocational opportunities reinforce the practice.”

Thakurta, who is part of the faculty at the KPC Medical College & Hospital, described the LANCET study as alarming and said that it eventually exposes the futility of a system that flaunts empowerment but lacks implementation.

“It signifies that poverty, lack of education, unemployment and social security has not been achieved by the masses,” he added.

Social activist Anurag Maitrayee is of the opinion that despite an effort by the West Bengal Government to prevent marriages of minor girls through the introduction of welfare schemes exclusively for them, a lack in awareness creation regarding the ill-effects of early marriages has continued to exist.

She also pointed out that often in rural areas proper sex education is not given in schools, resulting in teenage pregnancies.

“Though limited in number, there are instances of unwanted pregnancies in minor girls in rural areas, resulting in them being married off at an early age to prevent social embarrassment to the parents. I do not really blame the parents always in such cases, since society is such. However, parents need to be made aware that by resorting to early marriages in such cases, they are actually pushing their children, particularly the girl, into a deeper crisis,” said Maitrayee.

Experts are of the opinion that there is an urgent need for the West Bengal Government to launch a massive awareness campaign involving reputed non-government organisations working in the area of women’s welfare and experts from related fields.

Recently, the West Bengal Women & Child Development and Social Welfare Department in association with UNICEF decided to roll out a campaign using religious texts from different faiths to spread messages on child care.

These messages, with a focus on the girl child, addressed teething issues like anaemia among minor girls, high rates of underage marriages and early pregnancies.