Surajpur Makes 75 Panchayats Child Marriage free

Next, Surajpur district in Chhattisgarh in a historic move has announced that one third of their village panchayats will be Child Marriage-Free Panchayats in the year 2025. It was declared as the milestone was made on the presentation of the program of Healthy Women, Empowered Families during the National Nutrition Month. This was in accordance to panchayats that had zero cases of child marriage during the past two years or more to earn such recognition, as a result of reduced registered community developments and government efforts on the need to deal with this ancient social menace.

Background

Fighting child marriage in Surajpur is a part of the larger campaign in Chhattisgarh, initiated in March 2024 by Chief Minster Vishnu Deo Sai with the help of UNICEF that the Chhattisgarh state would be Child Marriage-Free. Such a successful promotion is what gave Surajpur its first big product with the involvement and dedication of the administration and the society itself. The other districts are now seeking to follow the example after this success.

Function of Awareness and Community Intervention.

Women and Child Development Department facilitated large scale awareness creation with the support of Anganwadi workers, the representatives of the panchayats, voluntary organisations in collaboration with the local communities. Consistent shows sensitized both parents and young people about the rights of children, bad effects of early marriage and importance of education, and empowerment. The interventions based on the reported cases in a short-term context and regularized messaging changed the attitude of society that makes families focus on schooling and health of their girls instead of marrying them at a young age.

Health and Nutrition Benefits.

The positive impacts of preventing child marriage are related to the health of mothers and children directly. Early marriage means that women tend to become pregnant earlier putting efforts on malnutrition, anaemia, and infant and maternal mortality at onset. Surajpur has increased health outcomes, improved nutrition and provided more opportunities to have longer schooling by postponing marriage. This is in line with the campaign of healthy women, empowered families where safer empowered families are promoted.

Future Prospects

Other districts of Chhattisgarh are recognizing surajpur like panchayats and urban bodies that have not had any instances of child marriage within the last two years to receive such comparable recognition. State government will also increase the level of monitoring, education, and active participation of the community. Surajpur is shown to be the case that laws alone will not eradicate the child marriage, the society effort must combine together in an attempt to change attitudes and make a permanent change.