The Collector of Deogarh, Odisha, is on a mission these days to make the district child-marriage free by the end of this year. To make the mission foolproof, he and his team have initiated broad-based stringent measures to protect children, specifically the girl child, from child marriage. Till now, they have been able to declare 50% villages of the district as child-marriage free.  

In an exclusive interview to Indian Masterminds, Deogarh District Collector Somesh Upadhyay, IAS, shared details about the initiatives taken to free Deogarh of this social evil.

TOWARDS CHILD-MARRIAGE FREE DEOGARH

It’s a bottom-up approach that the administration is taking, in which every gram panchayat is forming task forces at their level. It includes all the ward members and some prominent people of the villages, who prepare a register to record any event of marriage being detected. In the register, they record the birth dates of both the bride and the groom, and only after their approval, can the marriage take place.

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The district and block level teams have started moving from panchayat to panchayat, holding committee meetings and instructing them on how to create and maintain the register. “We have already circulated a single format of maintaining the register, where they will maintain the marriage records,” Collector Somesh Upadhyay said.

AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

The administration is also using awareness campaigns to keep a check on child marriages. For instance, they have contacted tent houses as they play a very crucial role in marriages. They have been warned by the officials about the laws against child marriages and strictly informed that they will also be held liable if they are found to be providing any tent facilities to such marriages.

“Apart from this, we have also warned and informed all the other stakeholders of marriages, including the religious institutions and the priests. They are all very supportive towards this and have also pasted posters in their premises, wherein it is written that this is a child-marriage free zone,” Mr. Upadhyay said.

REWARD TO INFORMANTS

To protect the children from child marriage, the administration has also circulated the contact numbers of the collector, the district child protection unit, and the child helpline among all the gram panchayats through wall paintings and posters. People can call up directly on any of these numbers to complain about any child marriage that is taking place in the district.

“We have also started the reward system, whereby we give Rs. 3000 as a reward to an informant who shares details about any child marriage taking place. We keep the name of the informant confidential,” Mr. Upadhyay said.

VIRANGANA

Further, the administration is also going to start another initiative named ‘Virangana’, whereby, coaches will teach martial art to girls as self-defense training.

Also, another scheme named Advika will have adolescent girls as leaders of their respective gram panchayat villages. They will hold meetings and share their perspectives to the villagers and create awareness on the importance of putting an end to child marriage.  

On top of that, schools and colleges in the district are being visited by officials, including the DM, to talk to the students and motivate them to take up their dreams seriously.

“Generally, after children pass their 10^th or 12^th,the next higher education is far away from their home place, which becomes an excuse for their parents to tie them up in marriages,” Mr Upadhyay said.  

TRACKING APPLICATION

The administration has also planned to develop an app through which they will be able to track any girl who has not attended school for 7 consecutive days. Automatic alerts will be issued to the officials and they will start tracking the girl and find out if some kind of child marriage negotiation is going on.

Apart from this, they will felicitate those parents who have given importance to their girl child, at the district or block level. “Also, if funds permit, we are planning to draw a package which may include bags and other things for the girl child born in our institutions,” the officer said.

50% VILLAGES FREE

He further informed that, overall, they have declared 50% villages free from child marriage. Last year, they got around 49 calls and 49 girls were rescued. “Child marriage is stopped at different stages, first is negotiation, which is the best possible thing for everyone because there is no expenditure incurred by both the parties. In case things reach the point of marriage, the administration takes actions as per the laws. However, our primary concern is to rescue the children and rehabilitate them.”

COLLECTOR’S VISION BUILDING WORKSHOP

Recently, a collector’s vision building workshop was organised by the administration for all the sarpanches of the district. Explaining this step, Mr. Upadhyay said, “We are trying to make an impact by stressing how important this issue of child marriage is because some villagers often dismiss it as a minor thing. We want a secure future for our children, specially for the girls. We want Deogarh to be totally child-marriage free by the end of this year. And we want to do it with the support of the public, not by enforcement.”