Determinants of Child Marriage of Girls in West Bengal

The present study aimed to investigate the determinants of girls' child marriage in West Bengal. The purpose of the study was to analyze various demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, and village level characteristics that are important in determining factors of child marriage in West Bengal. Binary logistic regression was applied to analyze secondary data (DLHS- 4 data of 2012 -13) of 8509 women in West Bengal. The results of this study indicated that the individual and household socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, such as place of residence, education, religion, and caste were important factors for child marriage in West Bengal. Furthermore, it was also found that the largest drop in the prevalence of child marriage was in the under-15 marriages, while marriages in the age group of 15 - 17 years continue to occur quite commonly in West Bengal. The results showed that the wealth quintile, village infrastructure quintile, and households that had a BPL card - these variables did not play any significant role in child marriages in West Bengal. Moreover, it was observed that there was a greater tendency towards child marriage among rural women, irrespective of educational and wealth differences between rural and urban women in West Bengal. In this study, we observed that girls with secondary and higher education had much lower chances of early marriage as compared to illiterate girls. Thus, education and early marriage were found to be closely linked. In this context, the Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme (girls with secondary education) of the Government of West Bengal can be a good instrument to reduce child marriages in West Bengal.