&host=www.rt.com&uri=/news/india-underage-marriage-chidlren/&via=1.1 204.160.103.11:80 (Footprint 4.8/FPMCP)&ua=CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html))
Teenage girl fights early marriage, setting precedent in rural India
Published: 09 March, 2010, 08:25
Edited: 07 July, 2010, 02:36
Life in the Indian village of Bororola has been derailed after a 14-year old girl refused to be married off, opting to attend school instead. Her act of defiance has rippled through the village and throughout India.
According to Indian law, it is illegal for girls below the age of 18 and boys under 21 to marry. But Rekha Kalindi comes from a family of six children and meager financial means. Thus, like many girls of her age in this part of India, Rekha was to be wedded off at a very young age to spare the family from extra costs.
“I learnt in school that if a girl marries young, she may miscarry her child and could also die during childbirth,” says Rekha. “My elder sister got married at the age of 11, and then had 4 children, all of which died. That’s why I said no to my parents.”
Rekha’s parents were shocked by her decision, and withheld her food and water for a few days. But she stood firm and they finally relented.
“We are poor people. I have three sons and three daughters. I earn only US$11 a month, and can’t afford to feed my family,” explained her father Korno Kalindi.
The economic struggle has forced many girls of Rekha’s age into family life. 15-year old Archana Kumar married two years ago and already has a baby boy. She is struggling to continue her school studies.
“In school I used to like athletics: long jump and high jump,” Archana recalls. “I can’t go to school now, so I’ve dropped one year.”
The part of eastern India where Bororola is located has the lowest female literacy rate in the country, at just over 18%. While children of Rekha’s age elsewhere in the world are working hard at school, kids in many Indian villages like Bororola are forced to end their studies to get married.
Thus, Rekha’s decision to resist marriage in order to attend school has made her a role model and now other girls in the village are also saying no to underage marriage.
09.03.2010, 06:25
Nightclub in ashes in MoscowOne person has died and another is missing after a fire broke out overnight in “Opera”, one of Moscow's most famous nightclubs in the center of the capital. The three-storey building was completely gutted by the blaze. |
09.03.2010, 09:03
Georgian WWII veteran fights red tape to become RussianSixty-five years after World War II ended, one ex-Soviet soldier is fighting a battle on another front. A man in Georgia is trapped in a bureaucratic quagmire, trying to get a Russian passport to be closer to his family. |
no doubt india is a vibrant democracy but it is not true that rule of prevails everywhere. dowry is strictly prohibited as per rule of law. but the practice of dowry is very much in practice and dowry related deaths are also a regular feature. similarly early marriage of teenage girls are very much prevalent in many parts of our country. west bengal, although one of the highly socilllt and politically aware states of india is not free from this unlawful practice. only unfortunate part is that the economically backward and poorest of the poor class among whome most of the cases are found, always remian in the backyeard of our society and we do not consider them as the bonafide population of our democratic country. few days back one lucknow weekly has also published the story of such child marrigae in wb. we must not everything in te name of vibrant democracy.
Your story is really sensationalism at it’s best! Of course there are people who do stupid things in a population of 1.1 billion but to give it colour as if it is the norm that kids are regularly married off in India is absurd. At the beginning of the story your remarks “Her act of defiance has rippled through the village and throughout India” gives a false impression that such acts are happening everywhere in India and this girl is the first case to stand up to such practices. Right through the story the impression conveyed is that children are being married off in India as a regular practice. Nothing could be more removed from the truth. India is a vibrant democracy where the rule of law prevails. Such cases of underage marriage are rare and isolated. If your story had dared to quote figures you would have found the numbers miniscule. Furthermore, Indians still have the family fabric in place and marriage is not taken lightly. Unlike many other countries where teen pregnancy and crimes against children are now becoming a huge social problem (not to mention that girls and boys of 16 are allowed to marry) Indians still look after their children relatively better than many.
Wow, someone's a bit oversensitive... the article pointed out that such marriages were not lawful and that they mostly took place in extremely poor, rural areas. The second commentor is correct; just because such things take place far from your cities doesn't mean they don't happen. And just because they're a small minority doesn't mean they don't matter. No 11 year old girl should be forced into marriage and then forced to try to have babies her body can't handle. Not even one. So quit defending your country and focus on what's important- helping people who only make $11USD a month to better provide for their families, so they don't "need" to practically sell their daughters.