JMA Pilani Rajasthan gives a Clarion Call - End Social Evil of Child Marriage

Despite growing literacy rates, India today indeed faces a serious problem of child marriage. Child marriages invariably lead to early pregnancies impacting the Maternal Mortality Rate - MMR and Infant Mortality Rate - IMR. Jharkhand is said to be top ranking with 13% of its women getting married before reaching age 18 followed by Rajasthan with 10.1%.

As per law, the girl should be 18+ age and boy 21+ age to get married and violators can face punishment of 2 years rigorous imprisonment and Rs one lakh fine. According to UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2012 report, more than 40 per cent of the world's child marriages happen in India. Further, there is gender discrimination inherent in child marriage, as the practice is more prevalent among girls than among boys. There is no doubt that child marriage is a social evil that robs millions of girls of their childhood, their rights and their dignity.

It is unfortunate that Akshaya Tritiya or Akha Teej when the sun and moon are said to be equally radiant and bright and otherwise known to be significant for various events, becomes rather infamous for conducting mass child marriages. This year, it was on 24 April.

According to mythology, it is on this day, Lord Krishna gave Draupadi the Akshaya (Never diminishing) Patra (Vessel), holy river Ganga descended from heaven, the treasurer of gods Kubera prayed to Goddess of wealth Lakshmi, Parashurama the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu was born, start date for Char Dham Yatra – visit to Badrinath Kedarnath Gangotri and Yamunotri, Ved Vyas and Lord Ganesh started the writing of epic Mahabharata, the staring of chariot construction for the famous Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra and many more such events.

UNICEF urged everyone to raise voice against this social evil and Rajasthan state government had also issued stern orders in this context. Established in the year, 2004 Smt Jamuna Mishra Academy – JMA which has been making rapid strides in early childhood education derives its inspiration from the quote “Information is just bits of data while knowledge is putting them together and wisdom is transcending them.”

Addressing the students and teachers of JMA Pilani, Principal Mrs Booma Natarajan explained the significance of the day and pointed out that Child marriage had neither legal nor medical sanction and was a punishable offence. The children of the school wore badges condemning child marriage and vowed to end this social evil.

For more details about JMA Pilani see http://www.jma-pilani.page.tl/

About JMA Pilani: Hometown to the Birla family, Pilani in the heart of Shekhawati region of Rajasthan is well known for various educational institutions, CSIR Laboratory CEERI as well as the upcoming BrahMos Missile Assembly Project unit. Smt Jamuna Mishra Academy - JMA Pilani is a Co-educational English Medium School with Experienced Teachers, Spacious Classrooms and Modern Amenities Designed to impart Quality Education combined with All Round Personality Development and lay the Best Foundation for the Child's Future. For more details about JMA Pilani see http://www.jma-pilani.page.tl/

Mrs Booma Natarajan, M.Sc., M.A., B.Ed.
Principal, Jamuna Mishra Academy – JMA
Near Old Pilani Post Office
Pilani Rajasthan 333031 India
Phone 91-1596-242314
Email booma_pilani@yahoo.co.in
Website: http://www.jma-pilani.page.tl/

This release was published on openPR.