Committed to ending child marriages: Smriti Irani

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 20

Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Monday questioned economic deprivation as the principal trigger behind child marriages in India, saying she had seen poverty in her own family but her parents didn’t marry her off early for want of money.

“I have seen poverty. We are three sisters. I’ve seen Rs 150 in my parents’ pockets. But my parents didn’t marry me off. This I can say firmly because I have seen poverty. Is it economy which has made us visible victims of child marriage or is it social psychology? This question needs to be introspected,” Irani said at a national consultation on prevention of child marriages, where Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi announced his target to reduce child marriages by 13 per cent until 2025.

Irani also pointed out the irony of Satyarthi speaking only of reduction in the malaise and not its complete elimination.

The event was held in the Capital close on the heels of ruling BJP Government in Assam cracking down on child marriages and inviting a rap from the state High Court.

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