Poverty drives families in castal Orissa to opt for child marriage

Kendrapada, Orissa, June 11 (UNI) Driven by illiteracy and acute poverty, people in Mahakalpada block, a coastal pocket in Orissa, are forced to get their daughters marriage at an early age.

As many as 40 child marriages have been solemnised in Mahakalpada block in the last three years, a survey conducted by 'Pragati', an NGO said.

The practice is predominant in the Bengali speaking villages in the belt ever since the 1999 super cyclone played havoc in the coastal areas of Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts in Orissa.

The survey revealed on an average 15 minor girls got married every year in the far flung coastal areas of Mahakalpada and Rajnagar block.

While some attributed the reason to the age old practice and tradition followed by the Bengalis, others said illiteracy and poverty forced them to get their daughters' married at an early age.

Social Worker Arpita Sahu maintained that the gullible parents in these coastal pockets were not aware of a law that prohibits child marriage.

''They don't have the idea that by getting their daughters married at an early age, they have actually forced these little girls to suffer various psychological disorders and diseases.'' She said most of the parents felt that it would be an uphill task to find a suitable groom for their daughter once she crossed sixteen years.

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