Parliamentary panel on marriage age has only one woman MP, 30 male MPs

The parliamentary panel assigned to examine the landmark bill which seeks to raise the legal age of marriage for women to 21 has only one woman MP out of 31 membersThe Prohibition of Child Marriage Amendment Bill which will have wider influence over society especially females was introduced in Lok Sabha during the winter session and referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education Women Children Youth and SportsThe bill piloted by the Women and Child Development Ministry seeks to increase the legal age of marriage from 18 to 21According to the members list of theparliamentary standing committee led by senior BJP leader Vinay Sahasrabuddhe available on the Rajya Sabha website TMC MP Sushmita Dev is the only woman among the 31 membersWhen contacted Ms Dev said it would have been better if there were more women MPs in the panelAlso read Deoband clerics oppose Centres decision on raising marriage age for girls from 18 to 21I wish there were more women MPs in the committee but having said that we will make sure all interest groups are heard Ms Dev told PTIEchoing similar sentiments NCP MP Supriya Sule who has been raising womencentric issues in parliament said there should have been more women MPs in the panel which will deliberate on issues related to womenHowever she added that the chairman has the power to invite people before the panel So for more inclusive and wider discussions he can invite other women MPsThe DepartmentRelated Standing Committees are permanent while joint and select committees are constituted from time to time to deal with bills and relevant subjects of various ministriesThese panels are constituted by both Lok Sabha and Rajya SabhaThe Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education Women Children Youth and Sports is a Rajya Sabha administered CommitteeParties nominate members based on their strength in the HouseThe proposed law will apply to all communities in the country and once enacted will supersede existing marriage and personal lawsThe legal age of marriage for women is being raised by the Centre on the recommendations of the Jaya Jaitly Committee that was constituted by the WCD Ministry in June 2020The introduction of the Bill was opposed by some members who contended that the move infringed upon several personal laws in violation of fundamental rights and demanded that it be referred to a parliamentary panel for greater scrutinyThe bill seeks to increase the legal age for women to marry to 21 years as is the provision for menIt seeks to amend seven personal laws mdash the Indian Christian Marriage Act the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act the Muslim Personal Law Shariat Application Act the Special Marriage Act the Hindu Marriage Act and the Foreign Marriage ActThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever