Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare informed the Legislative Assembly that the government is taking steps, with the help of the Women and Child Development and Rural Development departments, to mandate the inclusion of the bride and groom’s date of birth in marriage registration certificates.
Rajasthan has already implemented this system. The state aims to bring down child marriage cases to below 10%. Special campaigns are being run in districts where the incidence is higher.
Last year, around 1,500 child marriages were prevented in the state, while more than 1,400 have been stopped so far this year. According to the National Family Health Survey (2019-21), child marriage rate in Maharashtra was around 22%, which has now come down to 19.7% as per recent surveys in some districts.
The government stated in a written reply that Parbhani, Beed, Dhule, and Solapur districts still have child marriage rates above 40%.