APSC Answer Writing (Daily) based on Assam Tribune – 01/11/2026

Model answer

Introduction: The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 treats a girl below 18 and a boy below 21 as a child. In Assam, NFHS-5 found that 31.8 per cent of women aged 20-24 married before 18, against 23.3 per cent for India.

1. Case for enforcement

• Strong law: Offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable. A man above 18 who marries a child faces up to two years’ rigorous imprisonment, a fine up to Rs 1 lakh, or both.
• Scale of the drive: The latest round has led to 565 arrests and 481 cases. Since February 2023, over 12,000 cases and over 11,000 arrests have been recorded.
• Deterrence: Police arrested grooms, relatives and religious functionaries who helped. This warns others.

2. Limits of enforcement alone

• Root causes stay: Some pockets of western Assam are backward, and girls there have poor access to schooling.
• Misdirected arrests: Arresting couples married years ago, who now have children, achieves little. Courts stepped in against such arrests.
• Social problem: A purely legal view misses the social roots.
• Health cost: Early marriage is linked to the State’s high infant and maternal mortality.

3. Integrated approach: education, empowerment, health

• Education: Educated girls are less likely to be married early. Assam’s Nijut Moina scheme gives girl students monthly financial help from higher secondary to postgraduate level, to reduce dropouts.
• Economic empowerment: Better income and status for women can cut early marriage further.
• Health outcomes: Delaying marriage supports efforts to reduce infant and maternal deaths.

4. Way Forward

• Targeted enforcement: Act against new child marriages, not couples married years ago.
• Awareness: Spread information on the harm of early marriage.
• Prevention officers: Use Child Marriage Prohibition Officers, whose legal duty is to prevent such marriages.
• Focus areas: Prioritise girls’ schooling in the western Assam pockets.

Conclusion: Enforcement is needed, but it cannot work alone. Lasting change needs firm enforcement plus girls’ education and women’s empowerment.