Minimum Age For Marriage Of Women From 18 To 21: Cabinet Clears Proposal

Authored by ndtv.com and submitted by the_myth69
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The minimum age for marriage for women right now is 18. (Representational)

The proposal to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 was cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday, a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the plan is under review.

Prime Minister Modi, during his Independence Day speech last year, had made a mention of the proposal.

"This government is constantly concerned about the health of daughters and sisters. To save the daughters from malnutrition, it is necessary that they're married at the right age," the Prime Minister had said.

Presently, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 but for women, it is 18.

The government is eyeing changes to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act, and the Hindu Marriage Act to bring the plan into action.

A NITI Aayog task force headed by Jaya Jaitly had backed the proposal.

Top government expert VK Paul, senior officials of the Health Ministry, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Law Ministry were among the members of the task force, which was set up in June last year.

The recommendations on the proposal were submitted in December as the task force stressed a woman must be at least 21 years old at the time of first pregnancy. The delay in marriages has a positive financial, social, and health impact on families, society, and children, it said.

Welcoming the move, Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan told NDTV, "This is a good decision. This will give a chance to the girls to study more. They will be able to enjoy their independence. They will also get better employment opportunities."

bhisham69 on December 17th, 2021 at 16:05 UTC »

Correction

Age is increased only for Hindus, The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955

India have different legal age for different religion

Muslim have a minimum age of 15 years The Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939

And if you have no religious identity you are under The Special Marriage Act, 1954. Also you can be religious and still marry under The Special Marriage Act, 1954.

Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 also have a minimum bride age of 18 years

Edit. Sorry i didn't know that Special Marriage Act, 1954 also will get amended , So in the future if you court marry the legale age of women would be 21.

pippenmadeyou on December 17th, 2021 at 14:29 UTC »

Despite people in this thread trying to wave this off, this will in fact help many women in India. Just from the ages of 18-21 you gain a lot of emotional intelligence and sense of self-being. And of course the biggest boon is giving more women time to finish their education before there is an increased pressure for marriage.

Most of the people who will ignore the laws are poor people living in rural areas. And this disdain is true regardless of country. Go see the rural areas in the South or Appalachia. The law will at least benefit most middle class and up women living in urban/developed areas.

Also, it was already 21 for men.

GoGoPowerGrazers on December 17th, 2021 at 13:32 UTC »

The problem is how often the marriage age is ignored, not what the age is