Raipur. Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai today launched the child marriage-free Chhattisgarh campaign in the Mahtari Vandan Sammelan organized at the Science College Ground in the capital. During this, the Chief Minister himself signed the resolution letter to prevent child marriage. The campaign will be run by the Women and Child Development Department in the state with the help of UNICEF. In the conference, the Chief Minister unveiled the brochure of child marriage free Chhattisgarh and also administered oath to the women to stop child marriage. On this occasion, Women and Child Development Minister Lakshmi Rajwade and a large number of public representatives were present. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Sai, public representatives and women took a pledge not to conduct child marriages, to always oppose the evil prevailing in the society in the form of child marriages and to make the general public aware to stop child marriages.
It is noteworthy that according to the report of National Family Health Survey-5, 12.1 percent of girls in Chhattisgarh get married before the age of 18 years. In this, child marriage occurs highest in Surajpur district at 34.28 percent, in Balrampur at 24.60 percent, in Koriya district at 22.89 percent and in Jashpur district at 21.90 percent. Keeping these figures of child marriage in mind, the Child Marriage Free Chhattisgarh campaign has been launched. Through this campaign, a campaign against child marriage will be run in the community, considering public participation as the basic mantra. In which active participation of public representatives of Panchayat Raj institutions and urban bodies, community heads, voluntary organizations, women’s groups, youth organizations, government departments, Gaur government institutions and general public will be ensured. With the participation of the society, efforts will be made to make Chhattisgarh free from child marriage in the next three years. For this, public awareness will be brought about the provisions of Child Marriage Prohibition Act along with social awareness and mobility, adolescent empowerment, media sensitization.
