India among five countries that account for approximately half of world’s child brides: UNICEF

Gender: Five countries, including India, account for approximately half of the total child brides in the world, according to an analysis undertaken by UNICEF.

The report titled ‘COVID-19: A threat to progress against child marriage’ warned that as many as 10 million additional child marriages may occur before the end of the decade, negating years of progress in reducing the practice. Over the past decade, 25 million child marriages have been averted globally.

Worldwide, an estimated 650 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood, with about half of these marriages occurring in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and Nigeria.

Reopening schools, implementing effective laws and policies, ensuring access to health and social services including sexual and reproductive health services, and providing comprehensive social protection measures for families, are some of the steps that can be taken to reduce a girl’s risk of having her childhood stolen through child marriage, said Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF.

With one in three of the world’s child brides living in India, the UN body pointed out that the persistence of child marriage continues to remain a potential challenge to the country achieving Sustainable Development Goal 5 by 2030. This is despite India’s progress in reducing child marriage in the last decade.

Citing the findings of National Family Health Surveys between 1992-93 and 2015-16, the analysis said that the percentage of young women getting married in their childhood halved from 54 percent to 27 percent over the years. The decline, however, has been led by urban areas where 18 percent of women in the age group of 20-24 were married in 2015-16 as compared to rural areas where 32 percent of girls aged less than 18 were married.

It is critical that child marriage elimination efforts are integrated into COVID-19 response plans, and that prevention is strengthened to address the negative impact on health, education, and child protection, said Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF India Representative.

Read this article on why we should find ways to empower women beyond raising the minimum age of marriage.

Fundraising & Communications: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a circular extending the validity of FCRA registration certificates to September 30th, 2021. This applies to all FCRA licences that have expired or will expire between September 29th, 2020 and May 31st, 2021. The decision to extend the deadline has been driven by the exigencies arising from the COVID-19 situation.

FCRA refers to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010, which permits charitable organisations based in India to raise funds from foreign sources.

The order also clarified that nonprofits that have already opened an account and have the requisite permission to receive foreign aid, can henceforth receive it only in these newly-opened accounts.

The FCRA law was amended in September 2020 to include a clause that mandated that all nonprofits receiving foreign aid must necessarily open an account in State Bank of India’s New Delhi Main Branch. The government had initially set the deadline for this account opening as March 31st, 2021; it later extended it to June 30th, 2021 after several nonprofits argued in court that there had been delays because necessary approvals from MHA had not been received.

Several organisations have not been able to receive foreign funds during the crisis caused by the second wave, and this has impacted their COVID-19 relief efforts. Relaxing the foreign funding rules could significantly help organisations ramp up their operations to help individuals, supply critical healthcare equipment, and respond to communities in rural areas.

Read this article to know how amending the FCRA can have unforeseen implications.

Philanthropy & CSR: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued a circular that allows corporate spending on health infrastructure for COVID-19 care to qualify as corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure.

This includes setting up medical oxygen generation and storage plants, manufacturing and supply of oxygen concentrators, ventilators, cylinders, and other medical equipment to counter COVID-19.  

The announcement comes at a time when all efforts are being directed towards expediting efforts to support the country’s healthcare infrastructure.

According to the circular, companies can now undertake projects and activities in collaboration with other companies using CSR funds. Additionally, they can contribute to specified research and development projects, as well as publicly funded universities and certain organisations that conduct research in science, technology, engineering, and medicine.

The government had earlier clarified that setting up makeshift hospitals and temporary COVID-19 care facilities would also be considered a CSR activity. Rajesh Verma, the Corporate Affairs Secretary, has requested businesses to consider converting vacant office buildings into COVID-19 facilities to cater to the rapidly increasing caseload.

Read this article to understand why media attention on COVID-19 deaths due to lack of oxygen in big cities has skewed donor priorities.