Five Assam districts set one-year deadline to end child marriage

Inspired by the Government of India’s landmark 100-Day Intensive Action Plan to eliminate child marriage, the Assam Centre for Rural Development (ACRD) has pledged to make five districts—Kamrup, Kamrup Metro, Baksa, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur—completely child marriage-free within the next year. 

The pledge aligns with the nationwide 100-Day Intensive Awareness Campaign marking the first anniversary of the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat movement.

The national campaign focuses on raising awareness and tightening enforcement in schools, religious institutions, marriage service providers, and local governance bodies. The goal is to dismantle the social and institutional structures that enable child marriage, a practice still deeply rooted in several parts of the country.

ACRD is a partner of Just Rights for Children (JRC), India’s largest child rights network comprising over 250 organisations across 451 districts. Over the past year, the network has collectively prevented more than one lakh child marriages nationwide, signalling a rapidly strengthening movement to end the practice.

To commemorate the movement’s first anniversary, ACRD carried out extensive outreach activities across the five identified districts. These included school-level awareness sessions, community campaigns, pledge-taking ceremonies and sensitisation on the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA). The organisation emphasised that anyone involved in facilitating or participating in a child marriage—priests, guests, venue owners, caterers, tent house operators, or community leaders—could face legal consequences.

Working in close coordination with district administrations and police, ACRD has successfully prevented over 300 child marriages in each of the five districts in the last year. The organisation believes that with the intensified national push and local-level engagement, Assam is poised to achieve a decisive breakthrough.

Speaking about the strengthened momentum, ACRD Executive Director Prerna Changkakati said the 100-day drive has the potential to transform the lives of thousands of girls. “For generations, child marriage has robbed girls of education, dignity, safety and opportunity. Today, for the first time, the united resolve of government systems, elected leaders, institutions and communities is turning the tide,” she said. Changkakati expressed confidence that all five districts would meet the one-year target, adding, “No veil can hide this crime any longer.”