HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, Dec 19: Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday claimed that the state has witnessed decline in teenage pregnancies which have come down drastically to 40,012 this year from the previous year’s 1,05942.
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Taking to the micro-blogging site X, Sarma said that the government’s relentless pursuit against child marriage and teenage pregnancy is yielding positive results.
“Our relentless pursuit against child marriage and teenage pregnancy is yielding positive results. Registered teenage pregnancies in the State has come down drastically from 1,05,942 in 2022-23 to 40,012 in 2023-24. We won’t rest until we bring this figure to zero,” Sarma wrote on micro-blogging site X.
The chief minister also presented data indicating a significant reduction in teen pregnancies across districts.
As per the data, Dhubri and South Salmara, with the highest cases at 14,769 last year, decreased to 5,482 this year. Similarly, such cases in Nagaon and Hojai declined from 12,107 to 4,578, and Barpeta and Bajali decreased from 11,449 to 4,000.
It is worth mentioning that recently, Sarma had declared to eradicate this social issue by 2026, designating all gram panchayat secretaries as child marriage prevention officers. Sarma also claimed a notable reduction of over 33 per cent in maternal deaths and nearly 15 per cent in child deaths since the launch of the crackdown.
“Child marriage is a social evil which also manifests undesirable health outcomes such as high infant and maternal mortality rates. Our crackdown has yielded encouraging results in the women & child health sphere. By 2026 Assam will end this abhorrent practice,” Sarma had said.
Further, highlighting the challenges, Sarma emphasised that Assam’s infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rates (MMR) had surpassed the national average, particularly in specific districts. He attributed the primary cause to child marriage.
The chief minister also said that in 2020, under-5 mortality in the state was 40 per cent, exceeding the national average of 32 percent.
As per sarma, the government’s response involved arresting over 5,000 individuals in a comprehensive crackdown against child marriage, appointing gram panchayat secretaries as officers for prevention.
“These efforts led to a 33.4 per cent reduction in maternal deaths (from 766 to 510) and a 14.7 percent decrease in child deaths (from 7,872 to 6,718),” Sarma added.
