#Breakthroughtv adopts an article from my voice on Early Marriage:
Youth today is the voice of this nation; they are the face of tomorrow. The exposure they have to the entire world and the kind of mindset they adorn makes then the bright future of India tomorrow. Youth today is strong, goal oriented and organized. They are ambitious yet creative. They have a voice and a face of representation. They have the capacity to see beauty and to keep things that way, never getting worn out. They are the thought leaders today; they are esteem of the growing country.
On the other hand, in this country, there is a huge number of teenagers who do not grow up be a part of this promising group. They are the ones who grow up in the mercy of their existence in the hand of society, caste, creed and superstition. They are one who do not learn to voice their needs, do not learn to lead the group, do not see their teenage days and finally do not get the luxury of being the youth.
While one set of girls go to school, learn to play, sing, dance, understand what they want and what they need, there is another set of them, who before having an understanding of anything are pushed from playing with play kitchen to the kitchens of real. They are wasted when they are young. These girls are held back to take part in Social, political and economic life of the country, in a long run, the country is held back.
Families that are stationed in the remote part of the country are often poor. Unable to provide the basic securities of life had often gave way to parents to encourage the system of child marriage. This has later on taken the face of a rule or a part of the religious enforcement. In this regards, they often receive money and in exchange give their daughters, a security for life. In the remote places, the barter system of women and money being high, early marriages often settle the deal with less amount of expense. In a broader way, economy and exposure being low, the society has a darkness spread over their head. In order to escape everything, the parents often think of saving the daughters from being exploited by the counterpart of the society and sign in their favor. What they fail to follow is that, their daughters are being signed to be exploited further.
In spite of all the work being done, till today, every 1 out of 3 girls are married before they reach an age of 18. Again, every one out of nine girls will be married before their 15th birthday. It has been surveyed that most of these girls are poor, less-educated, and living in rural areas. While most countries allow girls to marry before they turn 18 with parental or other consent, the prime reason for forced child marriage underlies in poverty.
Reaching puberty should mark the beginning of a gradual transition to a healthy and productive adulthood. Instead, for many girls, puberty marks an accelerating trajectory into inequality. Child marriage is a primary source. Once a girl child reaches her puberty, she is pushed into sex and child birth by the in-laws curtailing a critical period for growth, learning, identity formation and experimentation: each of which is essential if maturation into fully rounded human beings is to be unhindered. There are laws and rules and legislatures that talk about Child marriage being illegal and unacceptable. What there isn’t the education to read these laws and understand them or the mobilizing capability to reach out to the remotest part of the country to educate the mass and to empower them?
Child Marriage has been embedded into a social and cultural facade of this country from ages now. To bring about any change in the system, there has to be a cultural and generational shift. And today, we are looking up only to the youth of this nation to can carry the torch and keep it burning. It is the youth who can go there and set examples, which can guide them and lead them and finally show them a brighter and better tomorrow.
Some of this text has been plagiarized. Please cite your sources properly.
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