18 is also the international standard adopted under the Convention for the Rights of the Child, which India has ratified
2009/3/12 ranju radha <[email protected]> > > govt categories are needed for adminstrative purposes > it has its own "radical" value; its own emancipatory role... > and i dont know why 18 years is the yardstick > perhaps some eminent feminsts/scholars can answer such larger questions > > > > > On Thuac, Mar 12, 2009 at 8:17 PM, Anil M <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi Ranju >> Is there any reason for this 18 year yardstic? I mean this minor/major >> category? Or this another Sarkar category? >> >> On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 7:11 PM, Ranjit Ranjit >> <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> >>> Many of these girls are actually from the Dalit, Tribal and MBC groups, >>> for obvious reasons.... >>> >>> >>> >>> *80 yrs since ban, 45% of girls still married off before 18* >>> >>> >>> >>> 48% Of Them Get Pregnant Before Attaining Majority: Survey >>> >>> >>> >>> New Delhi: Laws banning child marriages were introduced in the country >>> in 1929 but 80 years down the line, the social ill continues to be as >>> grave as ever. >>> >>> >>> >>> Nearly half the women in India are married off before they reach the >>> legal age of 18, a joint Indo-American study announced in the medical >>> journal ‘Lancet’ on Tuesday. >>> >>> >>> >>> After looking at data of 22,807 women aged 20-24 years, around 44.5% of >>> these women were found to have got married before the age of 18. >>> >>> ----------------------------------------------- - >>> *CHILD BRIDES * >>> >>> >>> >>> > 22.6% girls married before 16, while 2.6% wedded before 13 >>> >>> > 48.4% of married girls have a child before they turn 18 >>> >>> > 37% of them did not use contraception before first baby >>> >>> > They are seven times likelier to have more than three children >>> >>> > Three times likelier to have a child again in less than 24 months >>> >>> > They are also nearly 50% likelier to have an abortion >>> >>> ----------------------------------------------- - >>> >>> According to researchers specialising in social and behavioural sciences >>> at Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), economic and >>> educational >>> reforms in India have failed to lower the prevalence of child marriages, >>> fuelling risks of multiple unwanted pregnancies, their termination and >>> sterilisations. >>> >>> >>> >>> Even worse, it has been found to be associated with poor fertility >>> outcomes, such as unwanted and terminated pregnancies and repeat childbirths >>> in less than 24 months. >>> >>> >>> >>> Lead author Dr Anita Raj, associate professor at BUSPH, said the study >>> found that more than one in five — 22.6% — were married before age 16, while >>> 2.6% were married before age 13. Women who married younger than 18 were >>> significantly more likely to report no contraceptive use before their first >>> childbirth. Nearly half — 48.4% — of women who were married as children >>> reported giving birth before they turned 18. >>> >>> >>> >>> “These results suggest that neither recent progress in economic and >>> women’s development, nor programmatic efforts to prevent child marriageand >>> promote maternal >>> and child health, have been sufficient to reduce the prevalence of child >>> marriage in India,” Dr Raj said. >>> >>> >>> >>> The study found sterilisation rates were higher for women married as >>> children than for those married as adults — 19.5% compared to 4.6%. Overall, >>> more than one in eight women, or 13.4%. had been sterilised. Of those not >>> sterilised, more than three-quarters reported no present contraception use. >>> Child >>> brides were also at greater risk of a fistula — a tear in the genital >>> tract — as well as pregnancy complications and death and sickness as a >>> result of childbirth. India introduced laws against child marriage in 1929 >>> and set the legal age for marriage at 12 years. The legal age for marriage >>> was increased to 18 years in 1978. >>> >>> >>> >>> The researchers said, “Women who had been child brides were 37% likelier >>> not to have used contraception before their first child was born; seven >>> times likelier to have three or more births; and three times likelier to >>> have a repeat childbirth in less than 24 months.” >>> >>> >>> >>> They added, “They were also more than twice as likely to have multiple >>> unwanted >>> pregnancies, nearly 50% likelier to have an abortion and more than six >>> times likelier to seek sterilisation compared with counterparts who had >>> married after the age of 18.” >>> >>> >>> >>> Unicef recently said that child marriage was increasing India’s maternal >>> and infant deaths. Girls who give birth before the age of 15 are five times >>> more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s. If a mother is >>> under the age of 18, her infant’s risk of dying in its first year of life is >>> 60% greater than that of an infant born to a mother older than 19. “More >>> than 40% of the world’s child marriages take place in India. Worldwide, more >>> than 60 million women between 20-24 were married before they were 18. Child >>> brides become mothers much before their bodies are physically mature,” >>> Unicef ’s Karin Hulshof said. She added child marriage prevented many girls >>> from continuing education and are less likely to seek medical attention for >>> babies. (Kounteya Sinha/Times of India/Delhi/11 March 09) >>> >>> ------------------------- >>> >>> This newsletter distributed by >>> >>> Indian Committee of Youth Organizations (ICYO) >>> >>> Cynthia Stephen >>> Independent Researcher and writer >>> Bangalore, India >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Cynthia Stephen >>> Independent Writer and Researcher >>> >>> And may you be blessed with the foolishness to think that you can make a >>> difference in the world, so that you will do things which others tell you >>> cannot be done >>> "Every budding dictatorship begins by muzzling the artists, because >>> they're a mouthy lot and they don't line up and salute very easily." >>> Margaret Atwood : Canadian Literary Icon. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Ranjit >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> > > > -- > " The so called caste-hindus are bitterly opposed to the depressed class > using a public tank not because they really believe that the water will be > thereby spoiled or will evaporate but because they are afraid of losing > their superiority of caste and of equality being established between the > former and the latter. We are resorting to this satyagraha not becasue we > believe that the water of this particular tank has any exceptional > qualities, but to establish our natural rights as citizens and human > beings." > > - Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Mahad Satyagraha Conference, December 25th , 1927 > > > > > > > -- Bobby Kunhu http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
