planindia

  In India’s southern state of Telangana, close to 27 percent of girls get married between the ages of 15 and 19. A vast majority of these marriages take place in rural areas, predominantly among the most socially and economically disadvantaged communities. This situation is all too familiar to 18-year-old Ragini* who has seen many teenage girls in her area being forced into child and early marriage by their parents. Ragini, however, is determined that she won’t keep quiet and will do something about it.   ngo working for child education My father abandoned me soon after I was born. He wanted a boy. He didn’t want to take up the responsibility of raising a girl child. Barely able to make ends meet, he couldn’t face the prospect of any more hardship to raise money for my dowry in the future. He left my mother and I was brought up by her and my grandmother. My birth was a result of arranged marriage between my parents. My mother was barely 18. She didn’t have any say in her own ...