The Supreme Court rules that sex with a minor wife, despite consent, is rape, but activists call for a more realistic perspective to prevent child marriages and also to uphold the rights of young couples.
IT is well documented that a good percentage of Indian women get married under the age of 18, compromising their basic rights to evolve and develop as individuals. The Rapid Survey on Children commissioned by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2013-14 estimated that such marriages had declined from 47.4 per cent according to the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-06) data to 30.3 per cent. The fact sheet of NFHS-4 for 2015-16 indicated that child marriages had declined to 26.8 per cent but it showed that in rural areas marriages of women below the age of 18 constituted 31.4 per cent of the total, much above the national average. The percentage of such marriages was higher than the national average among the Scheduled Castes (34.9 per cent) and the Scheduled Tribes (31 per cent). Child marriages were prevalent in nearly 44.1 per cent of families with a low wealth index, an indication that poverty was a dominant factor in child marriages.
Early marriages result in multiple child births and often are the reason for maternal mortality, infant mortality and reproductive health challenges. The application of the rule of law to prevent child marriages has been somewhat limited. A strong correlation exists between child marriages in States that have lower literacy levels for men and women in general. However, various studies have shown a stronger correlation between child marriages and poverty, indicating that the law by itself was inadequate to address the challenge unless accompanied by government interventions at multiple levels.
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
