According to the Global Childhood Report published by the UK-based NGO 'Save The Children', child marriages in India has fallen by a huge margin of almost 51 per cent since 2000.
The End of Childhood Index score for India has increased by 137 points, from 632 points to 769 in a span of 20 years owing to the myriad of legal reforms, policies, public awareness campaigns and programmes implemented by the different governments over the years. This score is determined by several indicators related to child health, child marriage, labour, education, childbirth and violence.
India's reforms against child marriage, according to this report, was comprehensive in addressing the problems of education, health and livelihood faced by the children in the country. In the year 1978, the minimum age of marriage was raised to 18 for girls and 21 for boys, a rule which was extremely crucial in tackling the problem of child marriage. This was followed by greater economic growth, higher rates of education and public awareness of illegality of child marriages which was achieved with the help of various interventions, counselling programmes, vocational training and life skill development.
Consequently, teen birth also reduced by more than 70 per cent accounting for nearly three quarters of global reduction in adolescent births.
The report states that rising education rates among the women and children of the country were pivotal to the improvements in their welfare.
India has also achieved great reductions in child mortality, which is down by 57 per cent and in child labour, which has fallen by almost 70 per cent.
But the rate of infant mortality has not seen much change in these years. According to this report, today in India, two-thirds of deaths under the age of five occur among newborns.
India is presently ranked at 163 in the world according to this report, indicating that although it has fared better over the years, the country still has a long way to go as some children in this country are still missing out on their childhood.
The Global Childhood Report also states that conditions have improved in 173 countries out of 176, with Singapore as the best country in terms of childcare.
This report by Save the Children evaluated 176 countries on various factors which included children's access to basic rights and facilities and studied how much the countries have progressed over the years.
