Leading by example to fight child marriage

Political will: With various government initiatives, India has recorded a decline in child marriages, according to Unicef. A child bride waiting for her mass marriage ceremony to start in a village near Kolkata in 2009. – Reuters

AS a 15-year-old, she convinced her parents not to marry her off so she could fulfill a childhood dream of becoming a doctor and treating the poor. Now, two years later, Priyanka Bauri strives to make other girls and their parents conscious of the perils of child marriage.

“I had stopped my own marriage by convincing my parents that I want to study and become a doctor. I would like to treat the downtrodden and neglected people. I told my mother that marrying early and conceiving early can be detrimental to our health,” Bauri, now 17, confidently told a group of visiting journalists in West Bengal.