Targeting 18 dists, NGOs launch 100-day drive to prevent child marriage

To eliminate the practice of child marriage by 2030, the Just Rights for Children (JRC), a network of NGOs, has launched a 100-day intensive drive to make one lakh villages child marriage free which include 18 districts having high prevalence of child marriage in Haryana.

Bhuwan Ribhu, founder of JRC, said these villages fell within the districts identified as high-prevalence areas under the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) had been chosen for the intensive intervention. The campaign coincided with the first anniversary of the Centre’s ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ campaign, when the government launched a 100-day action plan as part of the nationwide campaign.

Ribhu said in the last one year, alone, the network prevented 8,742 child marriage in Haryana. As per the NFHS survey, prevalence of child marriage in Haryana is 12.5 per cent, which is though lower than the national average of 23.3 per cent. However, some districts within the state show huge disparity which include Nuh, Palwal and Gurugram having child marriage prevalence of over 20 per cent.

Just Rights for Children is the largest such network of civil society organisations working for child protection and with coordinated efforts having partnership with over 250 NGO partners across the country which work with four partners in Haryana. Ribhu claimed that JRC had stopped more than one lakh child marriages nationwide in the last one year.

“Extending support to the government’s campaign Ribhu said, “The role of community groups, faith leaders, panchayats and citizens is central to building a child marriage-free India. “Next year, together we have targeted to make one lakh villages child marriage-free so that every child has opportunities and a secure future. We will make every possible effort to completely eliminate child marriage from the country over the next three years,” he said adding that the 100-day action plan concludes on International Women’s Day on March 8, 2026.

He said during the first phase, the focus would be on awareness generation through schools, colleges and educational institutes. Religious places and marriage-related service providers including temples, mosques, churches, gurdwaras, wedding halls, and band parties would be in focus in the second spell, and gram panchayats and municipal wards to strengthen community-level engagement and ownership would be part of the third phase, he said.