Minimum age of marriage for women to now be 21, not 18; Union Cabinet clears proposal

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal that seems to have brought about a positive response on social media. The proposal to change the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 was cleared by the Union Cabinet. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said that the age bracket was under review. In fact, in his Independence Day speech in 2020, PM Modi had mentioned the proposal.

Striving to make a change on child and young marriages in India, which is rampant even today, the new proposal will now require both men and women to be the age of 21 to enter into a marriage. Currently, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 but for women, it is 18.

During his speech, PM Modi while talking about the proposal had said, "This government is constantly concerned about the health of daughters and sisters. To save the daughters from malnutrition, it is necessary that they're married at the right age."

To bring about this sweeping change a task force was set up. According to a report in Ndtv, a NITI Aayog task force was set up and headed by Jaya Jaitly. The task force also included top government experts VK Paul, senior officials of the Health Ministry, Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Law Ministry.

The task force was set up in June 2020 and recommendations were submitted in December of the same year. The task force was of the opinion that a woman needs to be at least 21 at the time of her first pregnancy. It also highlighted that delay in marriages has a positive financial, social, and health impact on families, society, and children, as per the report.