Govt must empower ANMs to not alter age of teen mothers: Expert

BENGALURU: The state, through its ground force like the departments of health, education, women and child development and Panchayat Raj “should converge its efforts and arrest the social evil of teen marriage,” said Nina Nayak, former member of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, responding to the report ‘Married at 15, this young widow has 2 kids’ that appeared in TNIE on Saturday.
She added that such news reports will build pressure on the government to halt the practice while accepting the social reality.

“It is the duty of the state to sensitise and empower the Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery (ANMs), Asha, Anganwadi workers, Block Education Officers, teachers to accept the social reality of teen marriage and early motherhood and not indulge in falsehoods and raise the age of these mothers (on Thayi cards) to fit in the set policies,” said Nayak.

Adiss Arnold, Project Director and Secretary, People’s Movement for Self-Reliance (PMSR), said though Karnataka has a “strong framework of policies to ensure the safety  and rights of the girl child, it continues in some rural areas. In Chamarajanagar district, child marriage is prevalent mostly among one OBC community and an ST community.”