dear Anil isn't the report that 45% of the girls married off before 18 scary in a society like india where certain castes and communities are still historically backward for centuries? what made u think romantically of the rights of youngsters below 18 by reading it? As ranjith mentioned most of that 45% victims must be the girls from marginlized. Most of the muslim girls are married off below 18 are economically poor as well.
Why do girl or boy want to marry (before 18)? Why we are concerned about their freedom to get married b4 18? Or is it live-in style freedom for them we r concernd about in a society where article 377 is still happily active to criminalize any love based on gender preference? On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 7:59 PM, Bobby Kunhu <[email protected]> wrote: > I was just responding in terms of where the age comes from and not > moralising. There has been number of debates and arguments on why 18 should > be the age of "consent". often times this "norm' could violate the right to > healthy sexuality and very often be abused too - not just in terms of > physical abuse but also by moral police > Another argument put forward is that under notions of citizenship, 18 is > the permissible age to enter into a valid contract > > 2009/3/12 Anil M <[email protected]> > > My question is what if a 16 or 17 year old boy or girl want to get married >> or want to have a relationship? Is it just a "minor" issue ?? I guss they >> too have rights! I saw some newpaper reports in Delhi few weeks >> back.....police catching the "misssing" Delhi kids from UP....According to >> reports, some of them were in love and eloped from Delhi....but since they >> were " minors" the Police could catch them and solve the case, and i imagine >> all were happy :) >> >> On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 8:46 PM, Bobby Kunhu <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> 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 >>>>>> marriage and 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/ >>> >>> >>> > > > -- > 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
