‘Task Force on Age of marriage of Women’ Submits Report

Finally, the task force that was set up to look at the age of marriage for women has submitted its report to the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Key Points

• The task force was set up in June 2020 and was given the time up to July 31, 2020.
• However, the committee has now submitted the report after the delay of 5 months from the deadline.
• The committee to look into the marriageable age of women was headed by Jaya Jaitley.
• It was first during the Independence Day speech of PM Modi that a panel to decide the “right age of marriage” for women was announced.
• The recommendations of the committee are yet to be known.

Previous Suggestions

Last year, in the Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also proposed to set up a committee to determine the “age of a woman entering motherhood”. She pointed out such determination of age would help to improve nutrition levels and lower maternal mortality rates.

However, the idea of increasing the age of women’s marriage from 18 to 21 years has been opposed by many Women’s rights activists stating that it could become a problem for adults marrying each other without their parent’s consent. Such activists suggested steps to educate women and increase awareness among the people to solve the problems of nutrition levels and maternal mortality rates.