Indian The government has proposed raising the minimum legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years . Currently , the minimum legal age for women to marry is 18 years; For men , the corresponding age is 21 years.

A bill to formalize such a legal change was presented in the Lok Sabha. However, after resistance from the opposition parties which argued that this bill infringed upon several personal laws in violation of fundamental rights , it was sent to a parliamentary panel for further evaluation.

As per the bill, the new minimum marital age for women shall prevail over all the personal laws; therefore the legal age of marriage will be raised for all females regardless of their religion.

History
Marriages in India are given a great deal of attention and consideration; still, society and its willful rules have prevented people, especially women, from making their own opinions about their ambition, pretensions and the age at which they want to marry. In an period of prim, the legal age to get married was 21 till 1823. still, after 1823, it was reduced to 14 for boys and 12 for girls. There were multitudinous social villainies in social India like womanish infanticide, Sati, Polygamy, child marriage and mutitudinous further.

Under Indian law child marriage was a sophisticated issue. It was defined by The Child Marriage Restraint Act in 1929,( 9) which set the minimum age of marriage for ladies to be 14 and males 18. Muslims opposed this law subsequently replace for Muslims of British India by the Muslim Personal Law( Shariat) Application Act of 1937,( 5) which inferred no minimum limit and allowed motherly or guardian concurrence in case of Muslim marriages.

On an average girls were married off between the age of 10 and 12 times during this time period. After India gain independence, there was a major change in 1978 when the legal age of marriage was increased to 18 for girls and 21 for boys.recently , Indian government introduce a bill to increase the minimum legal age for women to marry from 18 to 21 times. When ask to give new bill sense,the Indian government claimed that it would empower women and minimise gender contradiction.

The exigency for the legislation
In June 2020, the Ministry for Women and Child Development set up a platoon which was led by Jaya Jaitley to probe the connection between the period of marriage with issues of women nutrition, child mortality rate( IMR), motherly mortality rate (MMR), and otherproblems. after disquisition they put forward results which suggest that the age of marriage should be increased to 21 times.

Another consideration is that of gender equivalency. Section 4( c) of the Special Marriage Act declares the legal eligible age of marriage for women as 18 while for men this age is 21 times, but this bracket offers no reasonable defense or explanation. The voting age is the same, the age to wilfully assent for to enter into a sexual relationship and enter into a contract is equal, and also in view of the same, the age for entering into a bond for life should also be same. In the corner judgement of Independent study v Union Of India, the Supreme Court editorialized that it's essential that the age of marriage of men and women is made indifferent.

The prohibition of child Marriage (Correction) Bill,2021 was tabled in the Lok Sabha on 21 December 2021. The Bill alter the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act,2006 to raise the minimal age for women to marry. Along with furnishing for an increase in the minimal age of marriage from 18 to 21 for women, the Bill also provides for cancellation of child marriage till the age of 23 in lieu of 20 times, and for the implicit Act's vittles to take priority over any other law, custom, use, or practice regulating the parties to the marriage, according to the Bill.

Five Reasons Why The Changing Legal Age Of Marriage Is A Bad Move
Child Marriage Is Formerly Reducing In India
According to NFHS- 5,23.3 women surveyed got married before attaining the legal age of 18 times , down from26.8 reported in NFHS- 4. The figure for underage marriage among men is17.7( NFHS- 5) and20.3( NFHS- 4).

This enchancement of increased in marriage age has been set up to be because of increased access to education, skilling, healthcare and jobs. When girls can study further and earn plutocrat, it causes a change in station and a amenability to invest in them and delay their marriages.

These factors are proven to organically increase the age of marriage. Why is the government also riveting its energy on introducing a change in policy that seeks to criminalize people?

1. The living law governing child marriage - PCMA - isn't veritably effective on the ground.
   The minimal age of marriage for girls has been 18 times since 1978. Despite the steady decline of child marriage rates in India, the country continues to have the loftiest absolute number of underage misters in the world - despite the actuality of the Prevention of Child Marriages Act( PCMA), 1978 and 2006.
   
   In 2018, only 501 cases were reserved under the PCMA Act, indeed though data suggests that one in four women in India is still getting married under the age of 18. easily, the law isn't being effectively used to stop or reduce the number of early marriages from being.
   
   At the grassroots position, it's set up that the PCMA is overwhelmingly used by parents of girls to help tone- arranged marriages.Then, youthful people that want to get married of their own choice find themselves criminalized, simply for exercising their choice. The PCMA isn't being used extensively and in a proper manner to stop cases of constrained or forced early marriages, due to the deep- confirmed acceptance that similar social customs enjoy in society.
   
   While the current law isn't executed rigorously, simply fastening on age and corrective measures won't ameliorate the situation. Raising the age of marriage to 21 will increase the difficulties and detriment of youthful people - the very people it's meant to cover.
    
2. Poor Quality And Access To Education Directly Causes Early Marriage To Do.
   Girls left to no choice but to drop out of academy due to the poor quality of education, lack of structure like toilets, frequence of sexual importunity , or poverty - which also leads to early marriage. Investing in secondary and advance education for girls has been proven to drop rates of early marriage. exploration shows that townlets with high seminaries have a much lower rate of early marriage. According to NFHS - 4 data, the median age at first marriage for women increases from17.2 times for women with no training to22.7 time for women with 12 or further times of training.
   
   India's education system isn't that important effective for girls. Filling these gaps should be one of the top precedence for the government.
    
3. Beforehand Marriage Isn't The Reason For Poor Nutrition And Health Of Mate.
   The Task Force for the Age of Marriage has a stated end end of examining the factors that are responsible for malnourishment and anaemia of maters, and factors like suppressing and light among children.Still , exploration shows that the age of marriage has little part in the factor governing the poor health of women as comparsion to poverty which is the most important factor governing the poor health of youthful maters ( indeed at advanced periods of marriage similar as 21 times).
   
   Poverty also leads to under nutrition, anaemia and neglect of health care which are crucial to motherly health. Thus , in order to ameliorate motherly nutrition and health enhancement in access to nutrition, free and accessible healthcare is necessary. There's therefore ample exploration to show that such a move will be seriously mischievous to the rights, health and autonomy of youthful women in India.
   
   It has been proven that riveting on positive and enabling measures to ameliorate a girl's quality of life - education, employment, poverty relief - has a much advanced impact on organically delaying her marriage, so the government should concentrate on those rather.
    
4. Beforehand Marriage Is The Consequence Of Deep- Seated Social Morals That Need To Be Dived At The Root.
   The practice of early marriage is the consequence of deep- seated social morals . There's a believe in society that marrying girls off at an early age reduces the price of dowry, and protects them from sexual violence. Marriage and chastity are deeply connected to sundries of chastity and honour of the family.
   
   Girls are further seen as fiscal burdens( paraya dhan) who need to be married off at a youthful age. Investing in advanced education for girls is viewed as an gratuitous expenditure corrective policy won't vanish these social morals. In fact, there are chances that such a move will only increase underground marriage which will be carried out in a secret.Beforehand marriages continue to enjoy social acceptance, despite the actuality of an Act( PCMA) that criminalizes them.

In 2015- 16, 63 of youthful women were married before the age of 21. Among the poorest 20 of the population, the chance of women marrying below the age of 21 is as high as 75. Raising the minimal age of marriage would turn the families of these women into culprits - and disproportionately affect the poorer sections of society, substantially comprising of Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi women.

More access to education and employment openings lead to a radical shift in morals and bournes for girls, and a amenability to invest in them and delay their marriages. It's pivotal to address these social customs at their roots in order to drive behavioural change.

Advantages Of An Increase Of Marriage In India
This move of an increase in marriage age is a one step forward towards gender equivalency since it'll make the legal marriage age equal for both men and women, which is in agreement to composition 14 of the Constitution of India.

Moving forward, indeed in the 21st century, society functions upon a paternalistic social structure, and numerous youthful girls are forced to leave seminaries and sodalities only for the purpose of getting wedded. One of the main end of this law change is to insure that girls are handed with a further openings to do with their studies. Accordingly, further women are anticipated to go into advanced education, get jobs, and come financially independent in their lifes.

Likewise, this move will potentially stop the old age practice of teenage marriage, where girls in the age group of 14- 15 are married off after being portrayed as 18. Indeed now according to the rearmost data,23.3 of women in the nation are married off at an age youngish than 18. Data indicates that while the academy powerhouse rate of girls in classes 1 to 5 and classes 6 to 8 is only1.2 and2.6 independently , as compared to from classes 9 to 10 which is a huge chance of15.1.

There's a stopgap that this decision will drop the powerhouse rate chance of schooh- going girls.Coming important advantage of an increase in the minimal age for marriage at 21 is that, a woman will be mentally, physically, and financially in a better position to stand up for herself against facing pressure or maltreatment from her family for getting wedded early or getting married against her will.

Teenage gravidity are frequently led by a high peril of complications during gestation and delivery which causes a trouble to both life of a mama as well as child. therefore , adding the legal age of marriage will help in reducing motherly mortality and will also have a positive impact on the internal health of women.

This move will help in diving the social issues in addition to it'll also help the frugality thrive.Working population is in the age group of 15- 49 times which accounts for a vast bulk of the Indian population.still,the country's patriarchal culture prevents it from producing gross domestic product in proportion to its working population. Women will now have an equal chance both at advanced education, employment and to make their life opinions on their own and to come fiscal independent which as a result leads to profitable growth.


Conclusion
Government of India has made a estimable decision by raising the minimal age for women to marry piecemeal from addressing the country's social issues, the move would also help the frugality thrive. still, legislation alone isn't sufficient to bring about change as we know from once exemplification

 It must be noted that according to the 2019 report from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme perpetration, the average age of marriage for women has increased to22.1 times which is much advanced than the minimal legal age at present and the bone that's proposed. This average age is further for civic women than pastoral women. So, one can suspect that this change isn't only voluntary but is also accelerated by an increase in income and educational situations. Proper enterprise that helps that helps in perfecting access to education and employment will have to accompany the legal correction for change to reflect in the society.

The result lies in empowering youthful girls, encouraging them to get educated and achieve fiscal autonomy education for girls, and conducting mindfulness programs on the ill goods of nonage marriages. Government should subsidized education and healthcare installations in order to insure that girl's right to live a life of her choice is admired and preserved.Government should also come with an on- ground medium to spread mindfulness and apply this policy change rigorously for the benefits to reflect in the society and not to just pass this legislation and anticipate a change in the demographics similar way will surely bring a true change in the society's intelligence, further than legislation ever will.

Written By:Arjun Maheshwari, National Law University Lucknow.