Shimla: There is preparation going on to increase the marriage age of girls in Himachal Pradesh to 21 years. In the monsoon session of the Assembly on Tuesday, Social Justice Minister Dhaniram Shandil presented the Child Marriage Prohibition (Himachal Pradesh Amendment Bill 2024). It was passed unanimously without discussion. Now this bill will be sent to the Governor for approval.
The marriage age of girls in the state as well as the country is 18 years. The state government wants to increase it by 3 years. Its revised draft was approved by the state cabinet 7 months ago. Today the amendment bill was passed in the House.
Social Justice Minister Dhaniram Shandil said that increasing the age of marriage will give girls opportunities to move forward in life. Right now some people marry girls at a young age. Due to this, girls are unable to study and move forward in life. The government wants to protect them from malnutrition by increasing the age of marriage, because becoming a mother due to early marriage often has a bad effect on their health. Many women are also unable to move forward in their careers.
The central government has also decided to increase the marriage age of girls from 18 to 21 years. The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls from 18 years to 21 years in December 2020. Then Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given information about this while announcing this proposal from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15 August 2020.