Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the government was considering the right age of marriage for women, ANI reported. Currently, the minimum age for marriage for women is 18, and is 21 for men. Modi said a new age for marriage for women would be decided as soon as a concerned committee gives its report.
“Discussion is under way to decide the right age for marriage of our daughters,” Modi said. “From across the country, daughters have written to me asking why the concerned committee has not given its decision yet. I assure you that as soon as the report comes, the government will act on it.” Modi made the remark while releasing a commemorative coin of Rs 75 to mark 75 years of India’s relation with the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Modi said the government was taking many steps to improve the health and hygiene of women. He said the Jal Jeevan Mission was providing water to every household and that the Centre was providing sanitary pads for Re 1.
The Centre had said on September 22 that a task force had been constituted to examine the correlation between the age of marriage and motherhood, with health, medical well-being and nutritional status of mother and neonate, infant or child, during pregnancy, birth and thereafter, and key parameters like Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate, Total Fertility Rate, sex ratio at birth and child sex ratio.
Modi said girls’ gross enrolment ratio in education was higher than that of boys for the first time ever, due to several efforts the government has taken in the last six years, the Hindustan Times reported. Modi had mentioned during his Independence Day speech on August 15 that the government was considering raising the age of marriage for women from 18 to 21.
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