Karnataka reports more than 28,500 underage pregnancies. This is concerning and needs immediate actions, assert child right experts.
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A Chikkaballapura couple admitted their daughter to a government residential school in Karnataka’s Tumakuru district, hoping to provide her with a better future.
At the age of 14, their child, now a Class 9 student, returned home pregnant and delivered a baby boy early this month.
A week later, the National Health Mission’s Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) portal revealed that the Chikkaballapura incident was just the tip of the iceberg. It reported 28,657 underage pregnancies (below 18 years) in just 11 months — January to November 2023 — in Karnataka, an average of more than 2,600 cases a month.
The eye-opener, however, was that 558 of the pregnant girls were aged below 15. These figures reflect only those reported cases, not those that were hushed up or swept under the carpet.
The alarming statistics do not augur well for Karnataka, and it warrants immediate, effective action to address the social and health issues. Child rights activists, Health Department officials, and authorities are baffled by this number and are planning to do a resurvey to check the veracity of the data.
Officials involved in child rights activities are not amused. While the numbers provided are alarming enough, the actual figures could be manifold.
However, Vasudeva Sharma, Executive Director of Child Rights Trust and former member of Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and ex-chairperson of Child Welfare Committee, is not surprised,
“This data doesn’t surprise me. These numbers only mean that the cases are now being noticed. Thanks to some of the campaigns by our trust and other government agencies, these numbers are being recorded,” he told South First.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg. There will be hundreds of such cases in every district, that would have been missed,” Sharma added.
While the data for 10 months showed more than 28,500 teenage pregnancies, the state reported 45,557 underage pregnancies between January 2020 and June 2023.
The RCH data revealed that Bengaluru Urban reported 2,815 underage pregnancies between January and November 2023, while Belagavi and Vijayapura handled 2,754 and 2,004 such cases, respectively.
The numbers were high in the Kalyana Karnataka region, which includes Bidar (1,143), Yadgir (921), Raichur (1,252), Koppal (571), and Kalaburgi (1,511). Mysuru recorded 1,370 teen pregnancies. Udupi reported the least number of cases, 44.
Meanwhile, underage pregnancies have been on an uptick over the years. In 2020, 10,101 cases were recorded, and in the next year, despite a Covid-induced lockdown, the cases went up to 13,159. It further increased to 19, 561 in 2022, before making a quantum leap to 28,657 till November 2023.
“This escalating situation is not just a health crisis but also a social one, reflecting underlying issues like child marriages, sexual offences, love affairs and also increase in vigilance,” Sharma said.
The Covid-19 pandemic played a crucial role in increasing child marriages in Karnataka, child rights activists said. UNICEF, too, in a recent report, Is An End to Child Marriage within Reach, estimated that an additional 10 million girls would become child brides by 2030 because of the pandemic’s impact.
“Disruption to daily life through school closure, the pressures of income shocks and economic uncertainty, and even mortality among parents have created a higher-risk environment for girls,” the report noted.
However, Shashidhar Kosambe, a member of the Child Rights Protection Commission blamed the Health and Family Welfare Department officials for failing to prevent child marriages despite being aware of the increasing rate of underage pregnancies.
“It is a collective effort. Despite seeing a clear trend, the department did not make efforts to stop child marriages. The state has 56,000 officials dedicated to preventing child marriages. But then the numbers are continuing to increase. Why?” Kosambe asked.
Sharma explained underage pregnancies are not always recorded.
“There are hundreds of incidents in which girls become pregnant for the second time even before attaining the age of 18, but her age would be recorded as over 19. For example, during the first pregnancy, the age will be recorded as 19, and during the second one, the age will be mentioned as 21. She will be below 18. This shows that the data has been systematically fudged,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Kosambe said that over-reliance on Aadhaar cards for verifying age is problematic. People, including Auxiliary Nurse Midwife, Anganwadi, and ASHA workers use the Aadhaar card as age proof.
The Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2021, states that documents provided by the parents/guardians should be considered to ascertain the age.
“The caregivers must produce the child’s birth registration certificate. In the absence of the certificate, a primary school certificate or SSLC marks card has to be submitted. If none of these are available, then a certificate, attested by the District Health officer and an affidavit by the parents, confirming the age must be submitted as age proof,” Sharma argued.
However, many people, including officials, are unaware of the process. Sharma said. In many cases, they have found multiple Aadhaar cards issued in the name of the same girl. While one card is used for other purposes, another is used for marriage.
Effective campaigns, too, have revealed a higher number of underage pregnancies. “We are more worried about the deaths of these young mothers, which often go unrecorded. Child marriage is a significant reason for the casualties,” Sharma added.
Meanwhile, love affairs and elopement also result in teenage pregnancies. “But who has intervened in such cases to counsel the couple? If two people are in love, has anyone intervened and counselled the couple, and advised them of safe sex practices? No one,” Sharma added.
Dr Preeti M Galagali, Consultant Adolescent Health Specialist and Pediatrician said, “One needs to carefully look at the data. There has been an increase in child marriages during Covid and this could have resulted in a higher number of underage pregnancies.”
However, NFHS 5 did say that adolescent pregnancies have declined with an increase in the mean age of marriage. It’s better to relook at the data,” she explained.
Dr Galgali said she has noticed that in clinical settings, sexual promiscuity is on the rise due to liberal social norms, Westernization, and media influence.
Experts added that an increase in child sexual assault cases and relatively lenient laws could also have led to the spurt in teen pregnancies.
Sharma said it is easy to blame social media. He then went on to ask a pertinent question. “Why aren’t we providing education about the human body, pregnancy, safe sex practices, and sexuality at the school level?”
He pointed at the questions raised and scepticism towards NGOs when they tried to prevent child marriages in Bagalkote and Chikkaballapura.
He opined that schoolchildren should be aware of health and legal issues involved in underage pregnancies. The Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and the Indian Penal Code section on rape should be explained to both boys and girls, he said.
Teen pregnancies could have significant health implications for both mother and baby. Young mothers are at a higher risk of experiencing complications during pregnancy and childbirth. This is due to their bodies are still in the development stages, and may not be fully equipped to handle the rigors of pregnancy and delivery.
Teenage mothers are more likely to experience conditions such as anemia, hypertension, and eclampsia. Additionally, babies born to teenage mothers face higher risks of low birth weight, preterm birth, and severe neonatal conditions.
These health challenges are further compounded by often inadequate prenatal care and limited access to health services, which is common among teenage pregnancies.
“Mental and physical health of these children are both at risk in such cases. They can be extremely daunting. Several mothers die during pregnancies and many go through post-partum depression, leaving them scarred for lives,” Dr. Gopikrishna K, a gynaecologist from Bengaluru, said.
In the Tumakuru incident, the girl was eight months pregnant when her pregnancy was revealed, only after she had complained of stomachache.
KT Thippeswamy, Member of Karnataka Child Rights Commission (Tumakuru) said health department officials under the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) scheme should regularly conduct health check-ups.
“They have to ensure that there is a need for based free counselling programmes in the districts. The District Mental Health Programme scheme has designated psychologists and psychiatrists, and they must take the initiative and provide free counselling for children. During health checkups they need to encourage girls to open up,” he opined.
Meanwhile, he insisted that the police department should conduct regular Tereda Mane (open-house) programmes. They should visit schools and encourage students to visit police stations.
“These programmes instill confidence in children and also act as a deterrent to committing crimes against children. This is a message that would go to boys and other possible child predators,” he said.
Child rights officials insisted that the authorities should ascertain the pregnant girls actually studied in the schools mentioned in the data.
“If they did, then the education department must question why teachers had allowed the girls to get married before they attained 18. If they weren’t in school then it’s important to ask the officials concerned why they were not enrolled in schools. This will prevent any such further cases,” Thippeswamy added.
He said there were several instances of girls attending classes wearing the mangalsutra and toe rings, indicating marriage, but the school authorities failed to complain.
The situation calls for a multi-faceted response. There is an urgent need for effective mechanisms to report and prevent child marriages. On the other hand, it is essential to provide comprehensive support to teen mothers, including family counselling and health guidance.
The state government and child rights organisations should prioritise these issues in policy discussions and take stringent action against perpetrators of crimes against minors.
Addressing a news conference recently, K Naganna Gowda, Chairperson of Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) said the Commission would conduct a re-survey, with members visiting each district, to cross-check underage pregnancies.
“All six members of the Commission, will visit all the 31 districts and interact with the girls who became pregnant due to sexual assault or marriage. Each member is being assigned four to five districts,” he said.
The Commission is also conducting counselling sessions on underage pregnancies and has initiated legal action against several doctors.
“Anganwadi workers, in collaboration with the District Health Officers (DHO), will be verifying underage pregnancy reports at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) level in each district,” he told reporters.
Additionally, efforts are being made to raise awareness among high school and pre-university students about the POCSO Act, with special programmes like Tereda Mane being conducted.
This initiative also includes addressing issues related to female foeticide and monitoring scanning centers. Experts insisted that only a coordinated effort could end child marriages, child sexual abuse, and child labour.
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