The Union Cabinet on Wednesday has approved the proposal to raise the minimum legal marriage age of 18 to 21 for women. The recent clearance doesn’t come with a surprise since Prime Minister Modi had already announced the government’s endeavor towards a more equal India.
During his Independence Day speech of 2020, he mentioned the in-making marriage age raise proposal. In his speech, he conveyed that the government is constantly thinking about the health of the daughters and sisters of the nation. It strives to save them from malnutrition by enabling the right minimum marriage age in the country.
The present clearance was also influenced by the recommendations given by the Niti Aayog which is an exclusive policy think tank of the Indian government. In December 2020, the Niti Aayog task force led by Jaya Jaitly emphasized that a woman should be at least 21 around the time of her first pregnancy. The task force highlighted the matters and issues related to motherhood. It focused upon the poor maternal mortality rates and improvements needed in the level of nutrition in the nation.
The Niti Aayog set up back in June of 2020, simply pointed towards the positive impacts that delay in marriages can bring. With this remark, the government plans to lift the minimum marriage age for women at the same age as men. Currently, the minimum marriage for men is 21 years while for women it’s 18 years.
However, Jaitly, head of the task force stated and made it clear that their reasoning has no relation with the population control. She said that their recommendations are based on the consultations received from experts as well as young women and men because this decision will affect them more than anyone.
Moreover, the increase in marriage age will surely generate changes in the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, along with the amendments in the Special Marriage Act and the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.