Bhubaneswar: The district administration of Ganjam has recently been awarded by the state Women and Child Development department for its achievements in restricting child marriages through an innovative approach.
The district administration earlier this year had launched a special scheme ‘Nirbhay Kadi’ under which it has been utilising the services of all the frontline workers to track the dropout schoolchildren, make a database of them and engage all the adolescent population especially the dropped out in the drive. This section of the girl children which are most vulnerable to child marriages are also counselled about the biological hazards of early marriages.
“We started the drive roping in our anganwadi, ANM and ASHA workers. Help of self-help groups were also sought. All these workers hold meetings in their area with the adolescent girls in the district every third Saturday,” Manorama Reddy, District Social Welfare Officer (DSWO) told Orissa POST.
She added, “We also hold counselling sessions on health and reproductive health issues. The adolescent girls are informed about the harmful effects of early child marriage on their health like increased chances of stillbirth and other harms to their body. They are also apprised of the existing laws. This drive has empowered the kids with adequate knowledge to reason with their kin on why they should be married before legal age.”
Adolescent girls who have defied child marriages are also used in the process. They also have formed local committees named ‘Bal Bibah Pratirodh Mandal’. These panels meet the adolescent girls and often discuss issues relating to the ill effects of child marriages.
“These child committees have proved helpful in discussing in their own age groups about the issue openly. They talk how they defied the child marriage attempts in their family. It has empowered them to spread the information relating to the legal provisions on the law and other important information. The child marriage survivors, through this scheme, have become torch bearers of fight against the evil,” said BN Durga, State Programme Manager, ActionAid which is working with the government on the scheme.
The ‘Nirbhay Kadi’ drive is also helping the adolescent girls to act as whistleblowers to inform the local administration and frontline workers about child marriages being planned in their areas.