OPINION: This International Day Of Rural Women A Secret Is Brewing In India's Villages

While the world is celebrating International Day of Rural Women on October 15, there is a storm brewing in rural India with women taking the lead and has taken the shape of an unprecedented social movement against child marriage. Lakhs of women and even men, marching on the streets and in the lanes of their villages and towns shouting slogans, and singing songs that sound more like a war cry, have joined the child marriage free India campaign and are gearing up for its first anniversary on October 16, 2023. With just one day to go, lakhs of people in thousands of villages and with hundreds of civil society organizations are preparing to hold various awareness programmes, pledges, street shows, candle-lit marches, workshops, and many other activities with just one message - Child Marriage No More!

Someone sitting in a high-rise building in the thick of the new India may wonder if this is even an issue in the modern world. But as ironic as it may sound, this social evil that is a precursor to child rape is practiced socially in most parts of the country, with millions of young girls before they turn 18 are turned into child brides every year in our country.

So, just as the world celebrates Rural Women's Day, our very own women folk in rural India are busy creating history. These women at the grassroots include Anganwadi workers, teachers in government schools, fieldworkers, homemakers, young girls, their mothers, and grandmothers - the majority of whom have been either the victims or witnesses of child marriages. These women are well aware of the abuse and trauma that came garbed in the name of marriage, know about the rapes a little child suffers night after night in the name of 'marriage,' but despite this, they had accepted it as the fate they could never run away from. It was a fate they dreaded and prayed that it should not be their daughters' fate as well, and yet they did not know how to put a stop to it.

There was an overwhelming and unprecedented response from all corners of the country with over 70,000 women taking to the streets, demanding a child marriage free India. The movement became immensely big, and with each passing day, more and more women and men joined in. Led by the rural women at the grassroots level, it is a fight that is not theirs alone today. Law enforcement agencies, state governments, panchayats, and civil society have all joined in a chorus demanding and pledging an India free from child marriage.

The aim of the campaign is to reduce child marriages from 23.3% (NFHS5) to 10% by 2025, and make India child marriage free by 2030. It plans to educate, encourage and ensure 5 Crore pledges from citizens across India to end child marriage.

As many as 1,25,29,021people have taken pledges to stop child marriage so far and 1705 child marriages have been stopped since October 16, 2022. Letters have been written to all Chief Secretaries, WCD Secretaries, District Magistrates, Police Authorities, PRIs requesting support for Child Marriage Free India Campaign, and many states have already issued notifications for the same.

Yes, the silent revolution has taken the country by storm, and apparently the evil practice of marrying off little girls is now being openly challenged and protested against.

So, while you and I would probably be sipping coffee discussing the modern-day perils of Artificial Intelligence and the global market, thousands of women, some of them in veils, would be out there striding across farms, roads, and schools with a pledge that their daughters will now get the freedom to live their childhoods and their dreams.

So, irrespective of where we are, what would be a better day than today to speak up, take a pledge in chorus with these women and men, and help India become modern and new in the truest and most uniform sense of the word.

Shivani Pandey is a documentary film-maker and author.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.