The silent scourge strangling childhoods in Andhra Pradesh

Nearly 18 years since the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 came into force, Andhra Pradesh continues to report a high incidence of the practice. Though the State has joined the Centre’s Bal Vivah-Mukt Bharat campaign, stakeholders engaged in eliminating the social evil highlight how poverty, lack of awareness and limited access to social support compel many families to see early marriage as a coping mechanism, finds P. Sujatha Varma