Balod Becomes India’s First Certified Child Marriage-Free District.

Balod district in Chhattisgarh has been declared India’s first fully certified child marriage-free district under the national “Child Marriage-Free India” campaign launched on 27 August 2024. This milestone is based on Balod achieving two consecutive years with zero reported child marriage cases, followed by thorough verification and legal formalities.

      - All 436 gram panchayats and nine urban bodies in the district have been awarded formal certificates.

      - To earn the status, Balod had to maintain a clean record for two years with no child marriage cases registered anywhere in its jurisdiction. That record was verified district-wide, covering all 436 rural gram panchayats and 9 urban local bodies of Balod. After satisfying document checks and legal verification, the district was certified under the campaign.

Main Point :-   (i) The declaration comes under the “Child Marriage-Free India” campaign initiated by the Union government (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) in August 2024.

      (ii) Local administration, Anganwadi workers, public representatives, and community involvement were critical in achieving awareness, monitoring, and enforcement. The campaign also had technical support and programmatic guidance from UNICEF.

(iii) With Balod now setting a national benchmark, the Government of Chhattisgarh has adopted the goal of turning the entire state child marriage-free by 2028-29. Moreover, similar certifications are underway in other areas: for example, 75 gram panchayats in Surajpur district have also been declared child marriage-free after no reported cases in two years. This suggests scaling of the model across districts.