Jeypore: The custom of child marriage still persists in tribal populated undivided Koraput district. Despite several efforts made by the district administration, a little has been achieved in this regard.
According to sources, hundreds of innocent tribal girls fall victim to the custom at a tender age.
Drive to put a check to this ever-growing menace must be carried out in coherence with Koraput Childline in order to achieve desired goals, the local intelligentsia opined. However, awareness campaigns limited to district-level meetings and workshops would not help solve the issue, they added.
Undivided Koraput district comprising Malkangiri, Rayagada, Nabarangpur and Koraput districts have over 60 per cent of their population as tribal. Young tribal girls are married at tender ages for the age-old custom and poverty as well.
Early motherhood results in untimely death during delivery. In regards to the increasing cases of child marriage, Malkangiri district occupies the first place and Koraput stands fourth in Odisha, sources said.
A report of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) reveals that no effective measures have been taken by the district administrations in this regard for which it still persists.
On being contacted, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme officer Swarnabha Dash said, “We all including the district Collector have been taking adequate steps to curb child marriages and successfully, we have stopped several child marriages here.”
Giving her views, Koraput district child protection officer (DCPO) Rajashri Das said, “Most child marriage incidents in the district go unreported. Whenever we get complaint about such cases, we immediately intervene with the help of police and counsel parents.”
Notably, a task force was constituted in Koraput district to check the practice of child marriage, which is very common among the tribal communities in the region. Against the state average of 21.3 per cent and national average of 26.8 per cent, the annual rate of child marriages in Koraput district is 34.7 per cent. Child marriage is the main cause for high rates of infant mortality, maternal mortality and malnutrition.
The task force comprised of officials from 21 departments, including health, education, social welfare and police.
Cases tackled during FY 2019-20: Koraput district administration had tackled 49 cases of child marriages in the district alone, which included one at Lima village under Boipariguda police limits; five in one day at Dandabadi, Chipakur and Kolar panchayats; one each at Laxmipur and Kotapad this year.