• Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Annapurna Devi launched the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign to eradicate child marriage and empower girls.

• The Child Marriage Free Bharat Portal, a digital platform, was introduced to report incidents and access information on Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs). 

• This aims to enforce and implement the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006.

• Various achievements of the past decade were highlighted, such as the improvement in the sex ratio at birth (from 918 in 2014-15 to 930 in 2023-24) and the prevention of over 1 lakh child marriages last year.

• The Vision and Mission of this campaign emphasize education, health, and safety for girls, aligning with the National Education Policy 2020 and Viksit Bharat's vision for 2047.

• Inspirational  Success stories of individuals and activists combating child marriage were shared to motivate collective action.

• The event garnered broad participation from CMPOs, officials, NGOs, and schools, and it was attended online by over 50 lakh participants.

• The key objectives of this campaign are as follows:

1. Advocacy for 18 as the universal minimum marriage age with robust legal protections.

2. Strengthen monitoring and evaluation of CMPOs while ensuring public access to their comprehensive details for transparency and effective support in preventing child marriages.

3. Simplify child marriage reporting through user-friendly mechanisms.

4. Raise awareness of child marriage's harms and promote children's rights via extensive campaigns.

Click here to read more.