A battle half won?

It won't be an exaggeration to say that India, into its eighth decade of independence, is only half free.

The female population remains shackled in chains of conventional prejudices that shape their present-day realities. One among those roadblocks is the regressive practice of child marriage. Child marriage is a gender-neutral crime. However, it affects girls more than boys. More importantly, it hinders national growth by wasting the economic potential of a vast section of the Indian population. The practice has persisted through decades and centuries in India due to its complex nature and societal approval. It lies at the root of many challenges faced by the country's youth. Parents, especially in rural areas, consider a girl child as a liability that has to be dealt with earliest possible. A part of this problem is associated with the belief that maintaining the 'chastity' and 'dignity' of a girl child is a heavy burden to bear. This highly flawed perception of pseudo-pride is perhaps the biggest roadblock in a girl's path to quality education and career success. Early marriages of boys is no less worrisome but the problem is more intense and prevalent in the case of girls.