What's The Real Reason Behind Assam's Child Marriage Crackdown?
By Pranjal Baruah Guwahati: Assam has been witnessing protests since February 3, 2023, as the state police decided to launch its ‘war against child marriage’. In just 24 hours, the police arrested over 2,044 persons who were allegedly involved in child marriages. The state government has cited the high Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) as the prime reasons to curb child marriages. The National Family Health Survey that was conducted in 2019-20 and released last year revealed that Assam had an underage pregnancy rate of 11.7%, that’s significantly higher than the nat...