Cabinet clears proposal to raise minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the proposal to raise the legal minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21, same as men. The move comes more than a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the plan during his Independence Day address of 2020

"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," the Prime Minister had said in his address.

Following the passage of the proposal, sources said that the Centre will now introduce an amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, and subsequent amendments to the Special Marriage Act, along with bringing in personal laws such as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

Presently, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 but for women, it is 18.

The clearance of the proposal is backed by the recommendations submitted to Niti Aayog in December 2020 by the Centre’s task force, headed by Jaya Jaitly.

The task force, in its recommendations, had stressed that a woman must be at least 21 years old at the time of her first pregnancy.