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Women's Day 2020: A girl from UP stops child marriage in her family; Will be felicitated on Women's Day
Child marriage is still practiced in different regions of India illegally. But a schoolgirl from UP showed the courage to stop this illegal practice and she is going to be honoured on Women's Day for taking the initiative.
According to the Indian law, under the 'Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, if a girl gets married before the age of 18 then it would be considered as child marriage. But it is still practiced in some interior parts of India.
A schoolgirl from Northern India has shown the courage to stop this illegal practice. A 13-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh stopped a child marriage which was taking place in her family. This courageous step, taken by the girl, has highly been praised by Indians and now she is going to be felicitated by the UP Chief Minister Yogi Adinayath on Women's Day March 8. Vanshika Gautam, a student from 8th standard in Kasturba Gandhi Avasiya Vidyalaya in UP will be honoured with 20 other girls.
On being asked about this, Vanshika said that she intervened the marriage of her 16-year-old cousin which was being arranged by her paternal aunt. She made her family understand that they cannot get her cousin married before the age of 18. And then finally Vanshika's family agreed on this and let her continue her education.
Vanshika's school has arranged a programme named Meena Manch that aims to promote women's education and empowerment and she is also a part of this group. According to a school official, Vanshika has been called to Lucknow with other girls to get facilitated for their initiative.
A report released by UNICEF in 2016 stated that 47 percent girls get married before the age of 18. So, UNICEF launched a Global Programme in 2016 to end the child marriage and empower the women. They have also taken the initiative of giving life skill training and school attendance support to married girls.
