Shiv Lal is all of 22,but has been married for six years. That doesnt make him sound like a crusader against child marriages,but the youngster from Siddharth Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh will tell you why he qualifies. I was married when I was barely 16 years old. My mother used to be ill and my parents decided that we should have one more woman in the house. But because of this sudden responsibility,I had to drop out of school and start earning. I know the ill-effects of early marriage, says Shiv Lal. So when it was Shiv Lals younger brother Shiv Sahais turn to get married,Shiv Lal put his foot down. My brother is only 17 now. I want him to study,earn and then get married at the right age, he says after successfully halting the wedding and winning his brother over to his side. Now the two brothers and a few other youngsters are leading a campaign against child marriages in Siddharth Nagar,a district that records a high number of child marriages. According to the 2009-2010 District Level Health Survey (DLHS) and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) Data,66.9 per cent of boys in the district are married before 20,while 66.2 per cent girls marry before they turn 18. Youngsters like Shiv Lal are now working as community peer outreach workers to persuade people not to get their sons and daughters married before they reach the officially permissible ages of 21 and 18. Shiv Lals younger brother works as a village peer for the Early Marriage and Early Pregnancy (EMEP) prevention project,run in Jogiya block in Siddharth Nagar by Shohratgarh Environment Society (SES) and Mamta Health Institute for Mother and Child,New Delhi. As a peer,Shiv Sahai not only stops child marriages,but in case the children are married,he persuades their parents for a late gauna,a ritual where the child bride goes to live with her husband. Early marriages come with a new set of responsibilities,for which we arent ready emotionally or physically. Youngsters end up with health problems too as both the girl and the boy arent ready for marriage, Shiv Sahai tells his friends. Seventeen-year-old Rakesh Vishkarma of Badgon village had to fight with his parents to stop his marriage two years ago. The bhaiyya from SES would tell us about problems related to early marriages and told us that the legal age for marriage is 21. So when my parents tried to get me married,I protested. It was tough, Rakesh says of his fight. He now says he wont marry before 24,till he completes his education and starts earning. Together with village peer Suchit,Rakesh has been able to delay gaunas of several village teens. Seventeen-year-old Deepak Yadav married three years ago,but hasnt brought his child bride home,thanks to the campaign. Rakesh and Suchit bhaiya told me that I have to study and earn first. I also want my wife to complete her education and only then will we be husband and wife, says Deepak. The girls too have managed to stand their ground and fight conventions. Fifteen-year-old Uma of village Badgon married when she was barely 10. The class X student has decided she will wait for at least four more years before she goes off to her husbands home. My father works in Saudi Arabia. After he saved enough money,he got me married. But now,I want to complete my studies and also want my husband to earn before I go to live with him, says Uma. Similarly,Geeta,another 15-year-old in Dohni village,has been working towards delaying her marriage. He friends Durgawati (15) and Beenu (14) were married early and they want to delay their gauna. I want to at least complete my education and wait for another five years, says Beenu. BC Srivastava of SES,who has been working in the district for the last several years,says poverty,migration and lack of health services are the biggest reasons for the high child marriage and maternal mortality rate in Siddharth Nagar. There is a lack of strong political will on the issue. The administration does not do much to check these child marriages. Most of those who get married young have to drop out of school and are forced to migrate to other cities to earn. We are trying to retain them in schools as most of them are forced to drop out after they get married.
