: How Documents Helped Odisha Village Become Child Marriages Free in 5 Years #IndiaNEWS #Gender Issues Set in the lap of nature, Thianal village in Odisha’s Deogarh district offers a picturesque view

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How Documents Helped Odisha Village Become Child Marriages Free in 5 Years #IndiaNEWS #Gender Issues
Set in the lap of nature, Thianal village in Odisha’s Deogarh district offers a picturesque view with hills and a perennial river ‘Hinjuli’ flowing on one side. Located approximately 60 km from the district headquarters, the village is home to 70-odd families, whose main occupation includes farming and livestock rearing. Besides the scenic beauty, Thianal seems like any other regular village, until the eyes settle on a poster hanging on the wall of the primary school situated at the entrance of the village. Written in bold font, as if exuding pride, the poster declares the village as the ‘First Child Marriage Free Village’ of the district.
It is Odisha’s second child marriage free village after Rugudipalli in the Subarnapur district.
Almost half a decade ago, child marriages were common in the district. According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS) — 4 released in 2015-16, Deogarh district had reported a child marriage rate of 23. 4 per cent, higher than the state average of 21. 3 per cent. However, in five years, 370 villages (almost half in the district), have gained the ‘Child Marriage Free’ tag.
Proper documentation has played a prominent role in the villages’ quest to become ‘Child Marriage Free’. In most villages including Thianal, marriage is not fixed, let alone solemnised without proper verification.
“Most people in our villages didn’t know that there was a legal age in marriage. Almost all marriages in our parent’s generation happened when both the bride and groom were minors. Though the cases dropped after some years, early marriage was still common as there was no means of verification. So, now we have made Aadhar card verification mandatory before finalising any marriage. We figured this would be the best way to ascertain the age of the bride and the groom,� says Ajit Pradhan (32), a resident of the village, who was among the first ones to take this initiative.
In case, a family is not able to furnish Aadhar cards, the village accepts other documents for age proof. But none of the marriages can take place without document verification.
Push Towards Institutional Set-Up

In Thianal, after two youths from the village attended a District Level Sensitisation programme on the subject, they returned and organised a focussed discussion to lay the blueprint to track child marriages in the village. In February 2020, a Village Level Task Force was formed comprising mostly senior members of the village, which prepared a database of all adolescents.
The Committee then approached the district administration demanding a ‘Child Marriage Free’ tag.

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