By Aparajita Ray

BANGALORE: At 14, Reena Kumari (name changed) was told she’d be married soon. “I came to know my wedding was fixed for August 15, 2012 and that shattered my dream of becoming a teacher. I did not want to get married but my father is very poor and I had four sisters too,” says Reena Kumari in a YouTube video which has gone viral.

A Class 9 student of a government school in a remote Jharkhand village, Reena didn’t lose courage. “I decided I will fight back and study as much as I can. I will not let my sisters suffer the same fate,” she says. Her story is among hundreds doing the rounds on social networking media.

They’re part of Nation against Early Marriage, a campaign against child marriage by Breakthrough, a global human rights organization. Young persons like Reena are trained to be change agents and work in small units like a neighbourhood, community or school. Bell Bajao is a parallel campaign to challenge violence against women.

The central women and child development ministry is partnering NGOs to create awareness about the health hazards and human rights violations if girls are married before 18 years.

Karnataka has nothing to boast about when it comes to treating its girls. The last survey by India District Level Housing and Facility Survey (DLHS) on girls between 20 and 24 years but married before they turned 18 reveals that in Karnataka, it was 50.2%. Off these, 38.1% live in urban areas and 54.3% in rural areas.

It’s the sixth state followed by Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh in child marriage. “In Koppal, we were working on violence against women when we came across cases of maternal mortality of underage girls. That’s how we started finding out about child marriages. We started sensitizing men and boys about its health implications and the law. Our team in Karnataka is based in Mangalore and we’re chalking out plans to handle programmes in other states too,” said Sonali Khan, member of Breakthrough.

Shocking statistics

* Unicef’s Childinfo department states that 47% of Indian girls in the 20-24 age group are married early — 29% in urban areas and 56% in rural areas

* WHO states in March 2013 that 39,000 child marriages happen every day worldwide – that’s 14.2 million girls annually

* Study by National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development in 2010 says nearly 50% women get married before they’re 18

* India (DLHS, 2008-09) study on child marriage in 2008 shows that 43.4% of women between 20 and 24 years were married before 18 years — 48.7% in rural areas and 29.4% in urban areas. 296,790 women were mothers below 15 years in 2001.

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