Determinants, Attitudes and Practices on Child Marriage:Evidences from Rural Rajasthan

Rajasthan State is one of the hotspots of child marriages in India. A large number of children especially girl child get married before attaining the legal age and even before the occurrence of physical maturity. The magnitude of the age-old tradition has decreased in many regions in comparison to the last decade of 20th century. But still the diminishment of the child marriage is not promising and it exists as one of the major social concerns. The very existence of child marriage has multifaceted effects on the individuals who victimized for it. The glaring gender disparity and gender biased issues are also one of the products of early marriages. Present paper is analysing the etiological factors, attitudes, and practices of child marriages in rural Rajasthan. Information was collected from eight villages of Central Rajasthan through quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Structured interview schedule was administered with 125 households and ten case studies were done with selected cases who were married before attaining the legal age. Result of the study indicates that many of the etiological factors of child marriage indicated in the previous research finding still exist in different forms and magnitude. Present study inferred the changing and positive aspirations of parents and children against child marriage and it is found that there is positive association between education and attitude. The increased awareness of girls on their rights, privileges, and educational aspirations are the positive signs for the prevention of child marriage. The projection of the present study indicates that at least for the next 10-20 years child marriage will exists in its full magnitude as the youngsters of the region still have a narrow mindset on the issues of marriage. The study further infers that the victims of early marriages are most vulnerable and unsatisfied with their present state.