Telangana Records Decline In Child Marriage
JRC, which works on child protection and campaigns against child marriage, claimed that its nine partner organisations had helped prevent 21,472 child marriages in the state during the past three years.
HYDERABAD: Telangana has recorded a decline in child marriage prevalence, even as the United Nations declared November 27 the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced marriage. The Centre had had launched the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign on the same date in 2024.
According to figures cited in a statement from Just Rights for Children (JRC), 23.5 per cent of women aged 20-24 in the state said they were married before 18 during National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 in 2019-21, while the figure stood at 17.9 per cent in NFHS-6 for 2023-24. The national figure cited for NFHS-6 was 20.1 per cent.
JRC, which works on child protection and campaigns against child marriage, claimed that its nine partner organisations had helped prevent 21,472 child marriages in the state during the past three years. Across India, it said more than 5.5 lakh child marriages had been stopped or prevented.
JRC founder Bhuwan Ribhu had called for a dedicated international day against child marriage and reiterated the demand during an address at the UN in March 2026. Sierra Leone later presented the resolution with support from 67 countries, including India. Ribhu called the declaration “a moment of great pride for all Indians” and said, “The world is looking at us, and our work has only just begun.”