The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to increase the age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years, sources said.
At present, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 and for women is 18. Now, the government will bring amendments to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act and Hindu Marriage Act to give the new proposal a shape.
The proposal was recommended by the task force headed by Jaya Jaitley in Niti Aayog. Pediatrician VK Paul was also a part of the task force.
Besides them, the secretaries of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Women and Child Development, Higher Education, School Education and Literacy Mission and the Ministry of Justice and Law were also a part of the task force.
The task force was constituted in June 2020 and gave its report in December the same year. The task force had said that the minimum age of women at the time of giving birth to their first child should be 21.
Delay in marriage has a positive impact on the economic, social and health of families, women, children and society, the task force said.
Highlights
- Jaya Jaitly is heading the centre’s task force.
- It also recommended formalised school curriculum on sex education for schools along with the training of women in polytechnic institutes and business training so that the increase in marriageable age gets easier to implement.
- The proposal is based on recommendations submitted by a task force set by the Centre to Niti Aayog.
