"Legislation alone cannot eradicate a practice rooted in social norms." Critically examine this in the context of child marriage in India and the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign.

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006 bans child marriage [1]. Yet 20.1% of women aged 20-24 still married before 18 (NFHS-6) [1]. Law is necessary, but norms decide whether it works.

What legislation achieves

• Sets the standard: defines a child (girl under 18, boy under 21); offences are cognizable and non-bailable [1].
• Tools for prevention: Magistrates can issue injunctions; Section 16 provides for Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs) [1].
• Judicial push: SEVA v. Union of India (2024) sought dedicated CMPOs, linked a child bride's sexual assault to POCSO, and urged Parliament to ban betrothals [3].
• PCMA cases rose from 395 (2017) to 1,050 (2021), which the government credits to greater awareness [5].

Why legislation alone falls short

• Weak deterrence: only 53 (2015) and 35 (2016) persons were convicted [4].
• The complainant problem: parents arrange the marriage. Because it is voidable by default, the child must petition the District Court herself [1].
• Deep roots: dowry, "honour" and seeing girls as a burden [1]. Fear of jail pushes the practice into hiding.
• Raising the age is no cure: PRS noted that about a quarter of women still married before 18, even though 18 has been the legal minimum since 1978. The 2021 Bill to raise it to 21 lapsed [6].

BVMB: from law to social change

• Launched by MWCD on 27 November 2024, with a whole-of-society approach aiming for a child-marriage-free India by 2030 (SDG 5.3) [2].
• Focuses on 257 high-burden districts, with a target of a 10% fall by 2026 [3].
• The 100-day campaign worked through schools, faith leaders and panchayats, reaching over 6 crore citizens [7].
• Its portal lists 71,882 CMPOs and 42.01 lakh pledges [1].
• Caveats: these figures count effort, not marriages stopped. NFHS-6 was carried out before BVMB began, so the fall from 23.3% cannot yet be credited to it [1].

Child marriage therefore needs law to deter and society to reject it. India should appoint full-time CMPOs and send school-dropout alerts to panchayats. It should link support for keeping girls in school to Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and publish district-level outcome data. These steps would make the law a real backstop to changing norms, protect girls' Article 21 rights and keep SDG 5.3 within reach.