Jagan said it would help prevent child marriages and school dropouts as the marriageable age was 18 years for girls and 21 years for boys.
Beneficiaries in Andhra Pradesh can apply for assistance as part of the schemes within 60 days of marriage at village and ward secretariats. (Creative Commons)
Aiming to discourage child marriages, especially of girls, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has reintroduced the YSR Kalyanamasthu and YSR Shadi Tofa schemes.
A few days ago, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the scheme that came into effect on 1 October.
While launching the scheme, Jagan said it would help prevent child marriages and school dropouts as the marriageable age was set at 18 years for the bride and 21 years for the groom.
People can apply for assistance as part of the schemes within 60 days of marriage at village and ward secretariats. The one-time amount would be credited quarterly.
The Kalyanamasthu and Shadi Tofa schemes are part of the educational reforms and one condition to avail assistance under them is that the bride and groom must pass at least Class X.
The schemes would help people from scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs), backward classes (BCs), minorities, and construction workers.
The previous government had stopped such a scheme in 2018 and left arrears of ₹68.68 crore to 17,709 beneficiaries.
“While the previous government announced to give ₹40,000-50,000 to SC and STs, we are now giving ₹1 lakh. For inter-caste marriages, it was ₹75,000, which is now increased to ₹1.2 lakh. While the previous government announced ₹30,000 for BCs, we are paying ₹50,000, and for inter-caste marriages, the assistance has been hiked to ₹75,000 from ₹50,000,” said Jagan.
While the Andhra Pradesh government had introduced the scheme to check early marriages, the findings of the international study “Young Lives” showed that girls who were married early up to age 19 experienced significantly worse outcomes across a range of indicators compared to those who married later.
For example, girls who married early reported significantly lower subjective well-being, lower self-efficacy and agency, and lower perceptions of their relationships with peers.
Once they are married, it is very difficult for girls to continue their education; only 6 percent of married 18–19-year-old girls in the Young Lives study were still in school or college, with only 10 percent having completed secondary school, compared to 61 percent of girls who were not married.
The study generated in-depth findings on the determinants and consequences of early marriages following the lives of 3,000 young people in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Leaving education to get married also affects the ability of young women to make active choices over their futures, reducing opportunities to get a decent job and gain financial independence.
By the age of 22, young married women in the Young Lives study were significantly less likely to have a regular salaried job, and much more likely to be self-employed as 88 percent were not paid, as they were primarily working on family farms than young married men, who are largely engaged in paid employment.
Early marriage was also closely linked to early pregnancy.
Young Lives is a longitudinal study that followed the lives of 12,000 young people in Ethiopia, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in India, Peru, and Vietnam since 2001.
The study was divided into two age groups of 4,000 young people born in 1994 called the older cohort and 8,000 born in 2001, the younger cohort.
In India, Young Lives followed the lives of 3,000 children in the two Telugu states, producing research and generating evidence to help policymakers design programmes that make a real difference to children and their families.
In an effort to curb the menace of child marriages, Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi’s Children’s Foundation (KSCF) announced its upcoming “Child Marriage Free India” campaign in Guntur recently.
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KSCF’s Bachpan Bachao Andolan state coordinator K Tirupathi Rao observed that the National Family Health Survey-V (NFHS 2019-21) reported that nationally, 23.3 percent of women between the aged 20-24 were married off before attaining the age of 18.
The NCRB data, however, suggested that only 55 cases of child marriage were registered in Andhra Pradesh under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) during 2019-21.
This meant that there was a gross underreporting of child marriages in the state, and this needed to be addressed to stop the evil practice and create the fear of law amongst those indulging in such crimes, he added.
In this regard, a state consultation was held to mobilise all stakeholders of child protection to move together and help in the realisation of Child Marriage-Free India.
KSCF and the Child Rights Advocacy Foundation (CRAF) co-organised the consultation along with the Women Development and Child Welfare Department (WDCW) and Andhra Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (APSCPCR).
So how much financial assistance will be given? Here are the numbers:
Feb 09, 2023
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Dec 29, 2022
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