About Organization
Fulkumari Bapuji Club (FBC) vision is humanity, tolerance and social justice, where women and children and the disadvantaged grassroots population live with dignity, security and justice and dedicated to the development of the deprived people like backward , poor, rural women, people with disabilities, child labour, victims of trafficking and violence of Assam. The organization is working on the following issue of Child Marriage, Child Trafficking, Child Labour and Child Sexual Abuse. The organization participated and organized Child Marriage Free India Campaign in Dhubri and Goalpara districts of Assam covering over 150 villages under the project.
The Campaign Activities included:
- June Action Month 2023: – Fulkumari Bapuji Club the organization conducted the action month against the Child labour and with the objective of prevented the Child Labour. The campaign was conducted in collaboration with District Administration, District Child Protection Office and District Labour Departments.
- World Day Against Trafficking 30/07/2023:- Fulkumari Bapuji Club organized a awareness meeting , arrange a rally and also a awareness meeting with the Stakeholders like Asha , Anganwadi, Jivika Sakhi, SHG group and others.
- 11 October 2023- Observance of International Day of the Girl Child :- Fulkumari Bapuji Club organized this program with the association with Dhubri Bar association at Dhubri Bar Association and also different parts of the two districts. In this occasion unveiling the book “WHEN CHILDREN HAVE CHILDREN”.
- 16 October 2023 – Child Marriage Free India Campaign Event :– The campaign event was conducted in Dhubri and Goalpara districts, covering 300 villages with the cooperation of Gram Panchayats, Schools, RPF and College etc. with notifications issued by Panchayat and Rural Development of Assam, State Child Protection Society, Assam, Directorate of Women and Child Development, Assam, Commissionetate of Panchayat and Rural Development .
Child marriage is not just an age-old social evil, but also a heinous crime that robs children of their childhood. Child marriage is a “crime against children” that violates basic human rights, minor girls are forced to marry and live a life of mental trauma, physical and biological stress, domestic violence including limited access to education and increased vulnerability to domestic violence. The consequences of child marriage are severe and extensive. Some of the specific consequences include: early pregnancies leading to complications and higher rate of maternal mortality and death of infants, malnutrition among both the infant and the mother, increased vulnerability to reproductive health, disruption in girl’s education and thereby reduction in opportunities of her personal and professional development, domestic violence and abuse, limited decision making powers in the household, and mental health issues.
India’s Census 2011 revealed 12 million children were married before attaining the legal age, of which 5.2 million were girls. Globally, child marriage is identified as a crime and a menace that needs to be eliminated. It finds space in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, under target 5.3 of Goal 5 that states elimination of all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation by 2025.
The latest National Family Health Survey (2019-21) shows that although there is a drop in the overall rate of child marriages, from 26.8% in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) to 23.3% in NFHS-5, it is still high despite laws, programmes and schemes in place to address the issue.
Child Marriage Free India Campaign
Understanding the seriousness of the issue, the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in W.P. Civil 382 of 2013pronounced that the sexual intercourse committed by the husband upon his wife being under the age of 18 years with or without her consent can be constituted as rape. To address this, the most definitive and audacious commitment to end child marriage was made with the launch of Child Marriage Free India campaign.
Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) is a nationwide campaign led by women leaders and a coalition of more than 160 NGOs spanning more than 300 districts working to eliminate child marriage in India. CMFI is working to attain the tipping point of child marriage, after which the society does not accept this evil practice and that will happen when the prevalence of child marriage is brought down to 5.5% by 2030, from the current national prevalence rate of 23.3%. This is being done by initially targeting 257 high-prevalence districts and gradually focusing on all the districts of the country.
Child marriage results in child rape, resulting in child pregnancy, and in a large number of cases, may lead to child deaths. For decades, we have been losing generations of our children to child marriage. The Child Marriage Free India campaign has received extended support from various Departments and Institutions of over 28 States. So far, across India more than 5 crore people have taken the pledge to end child marriage over the last one year through the efforts of the Child Marriage Free India Campaign.
The Way Forward: PICKET Strategy to End Child Marriage
Addressing the issue of child marriage, requires a comprehensive and coordinated approach of different government departments, institutions, statutory bodies, and civil society organisations.
Tipping Point to end child marriage
WHEN CHILDREN HAVE CHILDREN – TIPPING POINT TO END CHILD MARRIAGE Book authored by Mr Bhuwan Ribhu is an action plan to eliminate child marriage in India by 2030.It looks at the existing data on child marriage and lists 257 districts in India where the issue of child marriage is worst, which means where the occurrence of this evil practice is highest as compared to national numbers.
Tipping Point is the threshold required in an ecosystem needed to tilt the scale of the problem towards a point of no-return. The Tipping Point of Child Marriage is the critical point after which the society does not accept child marriage.
Tipping Point Methodology
The aim of reduction of 60 percent of child marriage is assumed to bring down the incidence of child marriage to 5.5 percent in the next nine years from 2021, from the last available estimates i.e., NFHS-5, till 2030. An additional assumption is that such a focused and elaborate intervention against child marriage would have a ripple effect.
In order to reach the Tipping Point, the Author proposes strategy at national and district level.
- National Level strategy where Governments, Institutions, statutory bodies, etc. work towards prevention, protection, increased investment, improved prosecution, convergence and use of technology for monitoring
- District Level strategy is similar to national level strategy but includes district administration, Panchayats, civil society, NGOs, other functionaries, parents and children who work collectively to prevent, report, and take action against child marriage
CASE STUDY OF STOP CHILD MARRIAGE
FULKUMARI BAPUJI CLUB
1) This is a story of a 16 years old girl child and a 19 years old boy .
2) How the Fulkumari Bapuji Club intervene and stop this Child Marriage.
On 14/06/2023 a information came from Debitola development block , under Geramari G.P, at village Geramari part 6 regarding a Child marriage case. The boy name Rahul Biswas son of Sri Nilraton age 19 years and the girl name Konika Biswas daughter of sri Manik Ch. Biswas aged 16 years. The father of the boy was a business man and family background was good but the girl family was belong to a poor family and her father was a daily wages labour. After got the information our CSW contact with the G.P secretary (CMPO) , ASHA, VDP Secretary and other stakeholders and discussed the matter. After that our CSW, CMPO and along with the other stackholder went to the victim family and discussed with the family members about the situation. In this discussion our CSW told about PCMA 2006 . The CSW asked them to bring the child immediately as soon as possible. At first they refused to bring her back due to some social problem like what the people say, embarrassment and shame etc And then the CSW counseled them that if you do not bring her back then you all will be send to the jail up to 2 years and the boy (who eloped the girl child) and his family also will be send to jail as per PCMA 2006. After long discussion they agreed to bring her back. Just like this happened at the boys house.
On the next day the boy and the girl came back and our CSW with GP secretary(CMPO) counseled both of them . After that the CSW knew that both were in a relationship from couple of times they told the guardian about their love affair and wanted to marry but the guardians of both of the family did not consent in this matter that’s why they were took a decision like eloped .
After that the CSW and CMPO was discussed about the PCMA 2006 . They also suggested them that when you will get major for 18 years interims of girl and 21 years interims of boys before that you must stay apart. Now they will agree with the decision of the CMPO and others. Our CSW in presence of CMPO took the undertaking from both of the guardian and handed the girl with their parents. But the guardian of girl child refused to accept the her . As a result the CMPO and CSW put the girl child in the Care India Children Home (CCI) with the consultation of CWC. By the support of CMPO with community awareness, the NGO played a crucial role in stop the child marriage and bring a positive change in the village. Now the girl child is staying with her parents.
Challenges :
- In this case we found that the rich dominate the poor.
- Sometimes the guardians have no way to make decision on the child marriage due to love affairs.
- Some villagers bound to support the child marriage in cases of elope done by the girls child, due to some social barriers i.e. Stigma, Infamy, embracement and social discrimination on girl child.
- The CMPO is living far away from the GP area. So it takes more time to take action as per requirement.
- The rate of literacy is very low that is why they still keep the traditional ritual and customs.
- Some govt. officials has not given importance in this matter in the early stage.
- This incidence may be due to her poverty.
WALL WRITING
Child Marriage Free India Campaign conducted wall writing by the Community Social Worker different parts of the district .
POSTER IN MANDIR & MASJID
The Community Social Worker conducted awareness on Child Marriage and also the poster in to the Mandir and Masjid wall on the occasion of Akshay Trithiya.