Hailing Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s decision to extend Single Women Pension scheme to ‘lonely and single’ women, the Telangana State Women’s Commission has urged the government to ensure effective implementation of the Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act to put an end to child marriages. Chairperson of the Commission Tripurana Venkataratnam has appealed to include Joginis in the list of beneficiaries of Pension scheme.

Deploring that child marriages are still taking place in districts like Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda and Karimnagar, she said, “we can put an end to child marriages by registering every marriage (in the concerned area).”

Though widows and Joginis are already covered under the social security pension scheme, Aasara, she expressed concern that this group is vulnerable and so there is a need to provide additional benefits. Although officially banned, the Jogini tradition, where a girl, who attains puberty is married off to the village deity is still prevalent across the state.

She felt that the registration of marriages would also help in preventing any irregularities in the implementation of state government’s ‘Kalyana Lakshmi’ and ‘Shaadi Mubarak’ schemes (under which brides are offered financial assistance).

She is also of the view that the registration of marriage would also help women facing distress in their married life. Favouring the registration of marriages and conducting discussions in ‘Gram Sabhas’, she said such a move would raise awareness among village residents on the need for registration of marriages. The Commission suggested forming a special team of police, to deal with the cases of rape, so that investigation and the due process of law can be completed expeditiously.