Representatives of tribal communities and NGOs working for their welfare have expressed their ire over the government’s move to increase the legal marriageable age for girls from 18 years to 21 years.
The Centre has already introduced a Bill in this regard but a section of tribal community members in Mysuru district have expressed their dismay over the move.
“The law which has a bearing on every citizen of the country is being passed without any discussion’’, said S. Sreekanth of Development through Education (DEED), an NGO working for tribal empowerment and based in Hunsur.
The arguments in favour of raising the marriageable age is that the girl will be well-read and educated when she attains 21 years of age and hence will be in a position to take a decision for herself. But this pre-supposes that every girl will pursue higher education and does not take into account the dropouts and those who do not have access to education due to the prevailing family circumstances, argued Mr. Sreekanth.
Instead of providing for quality education and shoring up infrastructure and ensuing education for all, the government was side-stepping the issue, according to the members of the tribal community.
The argument in favour of raising the marriageable age for girls till 21 years also presupposes that every girl – apart from pursuing higher education – will be gainfully employed and this argument is a fallacy, said Mr. Sreekanth. “The dropout rate from high schools was very high among the tribal communities and we hardly have any graduates among the adivasis. The existing Ashram Schools which cater to the tribals lack basic infrastructure and is understaffed and these issues should be addressed first and not touch upon the legal age for marriage’’, he added.
Incidentally, tribals have sought for a decrease in the marriageable age for both boys and girls on the grounds that the adivasis have their own tradition and want it to be respected. “What is of concern is that the community members tend to follow their tradition and conduct marriages which is illegal in the eye of the law. This has given rise to increase in cases being foisted on tribals and these numbers will go up in case the legal age for marriage for girls was increased’’, said Mr.Sreekanth.
