New Delhi, October 16
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the government will soon make a decision on revising the minimum age for marriage for girls after receiving the report from the committee created for it.
The prime minister said that the gross enrollment rate of girls in education has become higher than that of boys for the first time in the country due to various efforts made by the government in the last six years.
Modi addressed a video conference after tossing a commemorative 75 rupee coin on the 75th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
“There is an important deliberation going on to decide what the ideal age for marriage for daughters should be,” Modi said.
The prime minister said he has been receiving letters from women across the country, asking about the committee’s report and when the government will make a decision on it.
“I want to assure you that the government will make its decision soon after the presentation of the report,” Modi said.
In his Independence Day speech, the prime minister announced that the government was deliberating what the minimum age of marriage should be for women and established a committee to investigate the matter.
Currently, the minimum age for marriage is 18 for women and 21 for men.
Modi highlighted the efforts made by his government in the last six years to fight malnutrition.
The prime minister said his government has taken an integrated and holistic approach to tackling the challenge of malnutrition.
The government has adopted a multidimensional strategy to work on all those factors responsible for high malnutrition, he added.
The government has started the National Nutrition Mission, Modi reported.
Highlighting other achievements, the prime minister said the government has built 11 million toilets across the country under the Swachh Bharat Mission and launched the Jal Jeevan Mission to provide piped drinking water.
The government is also providing sanitary pads in Re 1 to poor women, he added.
“Thanks to these efforts, for the first time, the gross enrollment rate of girls in education is higher than that of boys,” Modi said.
On malnutrition, the prime minister said that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has closely followed India’s fight against this problem in recent decades.
Some departments of different levels in the country made efforts but the scope was limited or dispersed, he said.
Modi said that pregnancy at an early age, lack of education and awareness, inadequate availability of pure drinking water, and lack of cleanliness were some of the factors why the desired results against malnutrition could not be achieved earlier.
Modi said that he had started various programs to address malnutrition in Gujarat when he was the state’s prime minister.
After becoming prime minister in 2014, Modi had said that he had started new programs with a fresh and holistic approach, based on his experience as prime minister.
Modi complimented FAO for playing an important role in increasing agricultural production and making efforts to eradicate hunger and malnutrition throughout the world, including India in the last 75 years.
The prime minister said the commemorative 75 rupee coin was launched in recognition of FAO’s contribution and services.
He also thanked FAO for supporting India’s proposal to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millet and said this will boost the availability of coarse grains and improve incomes for small and marginal farmers.
The government, Modi said, is making efforts to increase millet production and boost consumer demand.
The prime minister also dedicated 17 newly developed biofortified varieties of eight crops to the nation. PTI
