The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal raising the legal age of marriage for women from 18 years to 21 years, bringing it at par with that of men, media reports have said.
The cabinet’s nod on December 15 came more than a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the plan in his 2020 Independence Day speech.
At present, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 and for women is 18. Now, the government will bring amendments to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act and Hindu Marriage Act to give the new proposal a shape.
The proposal was recommended by the task force headed by Jaya Jaitley in Niti Aayog. Pediatrician VK Paul was also a part of the task force.
Besides them, the secretaries of the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Women and Child Development, Higher Education, School Education and Literacy Mission and the Ministry of Justice and Law were also a part of the task force.
The task force was constituted in June 2020 and gave its report in December the same year. The task force had said that the minimum age of women at the time of giving birth to their first child should be 21.
Jaitly told the media that the idea of deferring the legal marriage age of women was rooted not in population control but in women empowerment.
