Marriage Age of Girl In India To Be Raised From 18 to 21

The Raise The Age of Marriage Act in India

• The Marriage Age of a Girl in India
• Discusses the implications of the amendment
• Cabinet approves raising the marriage age for women from 18 to 21: A blog post around how the Cabinet has approved the proposal to increase the age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years.

Marriage Age of Girl In India

December 16, 2021: The Union Cabinet passed a resolution to increase the age of marriage for women. The proposal proposes to increase the minimum legal age from 18 to 21 years. The government approved the proposal in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. 

At present, the legal minimum age for marriage for men is 21 years. Similarly, for women, it is 18 years. The proposal was based on the recommendation of the Jaya Jaitley-led Policy Commission Task Force. 

Senior officials from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and the Ministry of Law were members of the task force formed in June last year. The task force was formed to look into maternal age. MMR (requirements to reduce maternal mortality) improve nutritional status and related issues.

 It will be implemented after the approval of the Union Cabinet. Under which the government will amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act, and Hindu Marriage Act to put in place the new decision.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in his Independence Day speech last year. Women are married off at the right age to prevent malnutrition. The task force has also recommended that sex education be formalized and introduced in the school curriculum, sources said.