(a) the details of infant, child and maternal mortality rate reported along with
the reasons for high mortality rates in the country during each of the last three
years and the current year;
(b) whether child marriage is one of the reasons for high infant mortality rate in
the country particularly in rural areas and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has
directed the States to take adequate steps to prevent child marriages in their
respective States;
(d) if so, the details thereof along with the reaction of the States thereto; and
(e) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to prevent child marriages
in the country?
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ANSWER
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MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
(SHRIMATI KRISHNA TIRATH)
(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 414 TO BE ANSWERED
ON 21.02.2014 ASKED BY SHRI P.KARUNAKARAN REGARDING CHILD MARRIAGE
(a) & (b): As per the Sample Registration System reports published by Registrar
General of India (RGI-SRS), infant mortality rate (IMR) and Under 5 mortality rate
(U5MR) in India are as under:
Indicator SRS 2009 SRS 2010 SRS 2011 SRS 2012
# Infant Mortality 50 47 44 42
Rate
# Under five 64 59 55 52
Mortality Rate
# expressed as a rate per 1000 live births.
The RGI-SRS provides Maternal Mortality Rate for the country at three year intervals.
The latest data on MMR for 2007-09 and 2010-12 is as under.
SRS 2004-06 2007-09 2010-12
# Maternal Mortality Rate 20.7 16.3 12.4
#number of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 of women in the age group 15-49.
Reasons for Infant and Maternal deaths in India:
As per SRS 2001-03 reports, the medical causes of death among infants are perinatal
conditions (46%), respiratory infections (22%), diarrhoeal disease (10%), other
infectious and parasitic diseases (8%), and congenital anomalies (3.1%).
As per WHO 2012 estimates, the causes of Child Mortality in the age group 0-5 years
in India are neonatal causes (52%), pneumonia (15%), diarrhoeal disease (11%),
measles (3%), injuries (4%) and others (15%).
As per the RGI-SRS report titled “Maternal Mortality in India: 1997-2003 trends,
causes and risk factors”, major causes of maternal deaths in the country are
hemorrhage (38%), sepsis (11%), hypertensive disorders (5%), obstructed labour
(5%), abortion (8%) and other conditions (34%) , which includes anaemia.
Further, low literacy, lack of spacing between births, early age at marriage &
child bearing, high parity, cultural misconceptions home delivery by unskilled
persons, poor child care practices and health seeking behavior, inadequate/delayed
referral mechanisms, poor hygiene and sanitary conditions with inadequate availability
of safe drinking water are other reasons for infant and maternal mortality.
(c) & (d): As per the provisions of the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights
(CPCR) Act, 2005, the role of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights
(NCPCR) is monitoring and recommendatory in nature. The Commission has written to
the State Governments on Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 and held
consultations on the issue.
(e): The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) 2006, prohibits solemnization of
child marriages and provides for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The
States are being regularly pursued for its effective implementation. Further, State
Governments are requested to take special initiative to delay marriage by coordinated
efforts on AkhaTeej—the traditional day for such marriages; the Government has declared
January 24 of every year as ‘National Girl Child Day’ to create awareness and promote
sensitization; SABLA, a Scheme for empowering adolescent girls, in 205 districts has
been launched on 19th November 2010 to empower adolescent girls (11-18 years) by
improving their nutritional and health status and upgrading various skills like home
skills, life skills and vocational skills etc. and building awareness on various
issues which also addresses the issue of child marriage and National Commission for
Women (NCW) has requested the State Chief Ministers to sensitize and gear up the
concerned machinery of the State Governments against those involved in the incidence
of child marriage.
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