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Central Government plans to revise women’s legal age for marriage ; key points

The legal age of marriage for women in India is likely to be revised from 18-years of age to 21-years of age as the government has formed a high-level committee to go into the matter and submit recommendations by July 31. Earlier, it was increased from 15 to 18 in 1978 as an amendment to the Sharda Act of 1929. Since 1978, the minimum legal age for marriage has been 18 for women and 21 for men.

However, in a progressive decision of the centre, a task force has been set up, which will re-examine the matters related to motherhood and marriage at an early age. This includes the mortality rates and medical well-being of the mother and child. The task force will be headed by former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly and will have among members V K Paul, Member, Health, NITI Ayog.

The ten-member task force will have as members Secretaries Health, Women and Child Development, Law and School Education. Three independent members are Najma Akhtar (New Delhi); Vasudha Kamath (Maharashtra); and Dipti Shah (Gujarat).

“Centre sets up a task force to examine the age of motherhood, imperatives of lowering maternal mortality rate, improvement of nutritional levels and related issues,” Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Following which, the Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD) announced that this body has now been set up, signalling a possibility of the legal age of marriage for women to be raised from 18 to 21.

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