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  • Pradeepan, Borgaon Jean
    District Betul Madhya Pradesh
  • 460001, Madhya Pradesh
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Child Marriage Free India

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About Our Organization

Child Marriage Awareness Program
Pradeepan, in collaboration with Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, New Delhi, organized a 'Stop Child Marriage' awareness program in 300 villages of Betul and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh with the aim of creating a child marriage free India. During this, the organization made people aware about the legal provisions and ill effects of the 'Child Marriage Prohibition Act 2006' through Gram Sabha, rallies, street plays, wall writings in every village. The organization, along with its staff, made a concrete strategy on how to make the district 'child marriage free'.
Pradeepan's Efforts
The organisation was established in 1995 in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. All the objectives of the organisation were self-made without any thinking and contemplation keeping in mind the social and economic condition of the tribal, Dalit’s, women and children of Betul district. The organisation started its work two decades ago from two villages Karanjidol and Makda village of Bhimpur, the poorest and tribal dominated area of Betul district.
Protection of human rights in that decade, even the big matriculation pass people did not know the name of the bird. The organization is making a significant contribution in protecting children and women from exploitative situations and the work of connecting them to the mainstream of development while protecting their rights is going on continuously.
The 'Pradeepan' organization has established continuous awareness and dialogue with various strategies in the community against human rights protection and exploitation of tribal, women and Dalit’s. It has always come forward to work for access to justice to children and people suffering from violence and exploitation.On the protection of child rights, since the year 2012, the organization has operated and implemented the 'Childline (toll free number 1098) project in the entire Betul district with intensity and enthusiasm till 31 August 2023.
With the aim of contributing 'Pradeepan' and Betul and Chhindwara districts in building a child marriage free India, 'Access to Justice Phase-II' project has been started from May 2023 under the support and guidance of Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation US. The organization ran a campaign in two phases to make Betul and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh child marriage free. In the first campaign, ‘Bal Vivah se Azadi’ campaign was run from 1 August to 15 August in which child marriage awareness campaign was run in 35 schools and 150 villages. Child Marriage Free India Abhiyan was run from 1 October to 16 October in 300 villages of Betul and Chhindwara districts.
* A public awareness campaign was conducted in two phases to stop child marriage.
* The first campaign was named 'Freedom from Child Marriage' which ran from 01 August to 15 August 2023.
* The second campaign was named 'Child Marriage Free India' which was run intensively in Betul and Chhindwara districts from 01 October to 16 October 2023
Steps taken to stop child marriage
* Door-to-door contact was made at the village level.
* Awareness rally was taken out for the village level Stop Child Marriage Campaign.
* Individual, collective and family oath was taken by the people.
* Students and youth were also made aware and sensitive at Anganwadi and 277 school, college level.
* Announcements and poster pamphlets were distributed at the big hot-market level.
* Orientation was done at the block and sector level with the Sarpanch and Anganwadi workers.
* Orientation was done at the sector level with Asha workers.
* Orientation of child protection committees was done.
* Religious places and events like Bhagwat, Katha -Puran, Sat sang etc.
During the campaign, administrative officers, Pandits, Maulvis, Police Department etc. were sworn in to make the country child marriage free. In both the districts, about 5,86,556 people were sworn in individually, family and collectively.
* 85 Gram Panchayats took proposals to make their Panchayats child marriage free.
* In 277 schools, school children were made aware by giving information about child marriage law through painting, street plays, wall writings, slogans etc.
* For the widespread publicity of the campaign, the organization workers also participated in the ‘Vikas Sankalp Bharat Yatra’ being run by the Madhya Pradesh government and informed as many people as possible about the child marriage law and administered the oath.
* Child protection committees in every village and hamlet were also made aware through orientation so that if any child marriage takes place at the village level, then the enlightened people of the village, Sarpanch, Anganwadi workers and Asha workers together can stop child marriage by mutual counselling.
* Anganwadi workers, Asha workers and Sarpanch were oriented and made responsible for child protection. They should explain the law like child marriage and it should be ensured that no child in their panchayats area and surrounding areas is subjected to child marriage. Child marriage is a social evil and a heinous crime in the eyes of the law. Due to which the childhood of children is snatched away and children are deprived of education, physical and mental development is not possible. Legally, child marriage is considered in the category of child sexual abuse.
Achievement of the organization during the child marriage awareness campaign:
(1.) The organization administered oath against child marriage to 5,86,550 people in 300 villages of Betul and Chhindwara.
(2.) Resolutions were taken in the Gram Sabha to make 85 Gram Panchayats 'Child Marriage Free Panchayats'.
(3.) 1000 Anganwadi workers(AWW) are joining this campaign and fighting a battle against child marriage in their villages.
(4.) During the public awareness campaign of 'Child Marriage Free India Creation' in Betul and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh, 80 Sarpanchs, 70 PESA mobilizers and 50 Panchs joined the campaign and took oath from people to not let child marriage happen by participating in the campaign rally in their respective areas.
(5) From May 2023 to April 2024, a total of 533 child marriages were stopped in Betul and Chhindwara districts by the organization. Out of these, 189 parents were made to fill undertakings and in 343 cases of child marriages, child marriages were stopped by counselling the parents. In 01 case of child marriage, the organization assisted in filing an FIR on the request of the girl.
Child Trafcking
A total of 57 child trafficking cases have been resolved from May 2023 to April 2024 under the 'Access to Justice Phase-2' project operated in Betul and Chhindwara districts in collaboration with KSCF. At the same time, 25 cases of child labour were found in Betul district.
● To stop child trafficking, Pradeepan held Gram Sabhas in 300 villages of two districts.
● Awareness campaign was conducted in two districts from 1-30 June 2023 to stop child labor and child trafficking at the village level. On June 12, 2023, Betul Collector Mr Amanveer Singh Bash flagged off the Child Lab or Elimination Awareness Campaign Rath from the Collector's Office. ● During the entire month of June, 26 children were identified during the child labour elimination awareness campaign. At the same time, 12 children were freed during the campaign itself.
● It was made mandatory to maintain a register for registration of migrating people at the Gram panchayats level and it was ensured that their registration/name is recorded in it.
● The second awareness campaign to stop child labour and adolescent labour was run again from 20 November 2023 to 10 December 2023. During this period, 50 child labourers were identified and 11 child labourers were freed on the orders of CWC and rehabilitated in their families.
● With the cooperation of District Collector Betul, two child labourers were freed from Davangiri district of Karnataka and their two months' wages of Rs 20000/- (twenty thousand rupees) were also paid.
● A strategy was made to stop child labour by taking a list of children who drop out of school.
Two words for Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation (KSCF)
'Pradeepan' organization thanks and expresses gratitude to KSCF for joining as a project partner from May 2023. We feel very proud to say that we are partners of KSCF. Their credibility, guidance and cooperation towards the organizations remind us of Mr Prabhjot Singh Shodhi ji, Director of Oxfam India Trust Nagpur and Lucknow and CEE SGP UNDP New Delhi two decades ago. They have partnered with Pradeepan for 8-10 years. A blend of modern technology, innovation along with intimacy and professionalism in the field of social development is reflected in their guidance.
We would like to express our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to KSCF founders, Nobel Prize winner Mr. Kailash Satyarthi and Bhuvan Ribhu ji and also thank the KSCF program management team under whose guidance Pradeepan has successfully implemented the 'Access to Justice - Phase II' project in Betul and Chhindwara districts. Pradeepan is always eager and ready to contribute to achieving the huge and huge goal of KSCF to create a child marriage free India by 2030. .
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Background 
Child marriage is not just an age-old social evil, but also a heinous crime that robs children of their childhood.  Child marriage is a “crime against children” that violates basic human rights, minor girls are forced to marry and live a life of mental trauma, physical and biological stress, domestic violence including limited access to education and increased vulnerability to domestic violence. The consequences of child marriage are severe and extensive. Some of the specific consequences include: early pregnancies leading to complications and higher rate of maternal mortality and death of infants, malnutrition among both the infant and the mother, increased vulnerability to reproductive health, disruption in girl’s education and thereby reduction in opportunities of her personal and professional development, domestic violence and abuse, limited decision making powers in the household, and mental health issues.

India’s Census 2011 revealed 12 million children were married before attaining the legal age, of which 5.2 million were girls. Globally, child marriage is identified as a crime and a menace that needs to be eliminated. It finds space in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, under target 5.3 of Goal 5 that states elimination of all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation by 2025.

The latest National Family Health Survey (2019-21) shows that although there is a drop in the overall rate of child marriages, from 26.8% in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) to 23.3% in NFHS-5, it is still high despite laws, programmes and schemes in place to address the issue.

Child Marriage Free India Campaign

Understanding the seriousness of the issue, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in W.P. Civil 382 of 2013 pronounced that the sexual intercourse committed by the husband upon his wife being under the age of 18 years with or without her consent can be constituted as rape. To address this, the most definitive and audacious commitment to end child marriage was made with the launch of Child Marriage Free India campaign.

Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) is a nationwide campaign led by women leaders and a coalition of more than 160 NGOs spanning more than 300 districts working to eliminate child marriage in India. CMFI is working to attain the tipping point of child marriage, after which the society does not accept this evil practice and that will happen when the prevalence of child marriage is brought down to 5.5% by 2030, from the current national prevalence rate of 23.3%. This is being done by initially targeting 257 high-prevalence districts and gradually focusing on all the districts of the country.

Child marriage results in child rape, resulting in child pregnancy, and in a large number of cases, may lead to child deaths. For decades, we have been losing generations of our children to child marriage. The Child Marriage Free India campaign has received extended support from various Departments and Institutions of over 28 States. So far, across India more than 5 crore people have taken the pledge to end child marriage over the last one year through the efforts of the Child Marriage Free India Campaign.

Know more about the Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) Campaign: https://www.childmarriagefreeindia.org/

The Way Forward: PICKET Strategy to End Child Marriage

Addressing the issue of child marriage, requires a comprehensive and coordinated approach of different government departments, institutions, statutory bodies, and civil society organisations.

Tipping Point to end child marriage

WHEN CHILDREN HAVE CHILDREN – TIPPING POINT TO END CHILD MARRIAGE Book authored by Mr Bhuwan Ribhu is an action plan to eliminate child marriage in India by 2030. It looks at the existing data on child marriage and lists 257 districts in India where the issue of child marriage is worst, which means where the occurrence of this evil practice is highest as compared to national numbers.

Tipping Point is the threshold required in an ecosystem needed to tilt the scale of the problem towards a point of no-return. The Tipping Point of Child Marriage is the critical point after which the society does not accept child marriage.

Tipping Point Methodology

The aim of reduction of 60 percent of child marriage is assumed to bring down the incidence of child marriage to 5.5 percent in the next nine years from 2021, from the last available estimates i.e., NFHS-5, till 2030. An additional assumption is that such a focused and elaborate intervention against child marriage would have a ripple effect.

In order to reach the Tipping Point, the Author proposes strategy at national and district level.

  1. National Level strategy where Governments, Institutions, statutory bodies, etc. work towards prevention, protection, increased investment, improved prosecution, convergence and use of technology for monitoring
  2. District Level strategy is similar to national level strategy but includes district administration, Panchayats, civil society, NGOs, other functionaries, parents and children who work collectively to prevent, report, and take action against child marriage
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