Cabinet clears proposal to increase minimum age of marriage of women from 18 to 21

New Delhi : Cabinet has cleared a proposal to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21, a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the plan is under review.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had mentioned this during his speech on Independence Day.

"This government is constantly concerned about the health of daughters and sisters. To save the daughters from malnutrition, it is necessary that they're married at the right age," the Prime Minister had said.

Presently, the minimum age of marriage for men is 21 and for women is 18.

The government is eyeing changes to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Special Marriage Act, and the Hindu Marriage Act to bring the plan into action.

A NITI Aayog task force headed by Jaya Jaitly had backed the proposal.

The recommendations on the proposal were submitted in December as the task force stressed a woman must be at least 21 years old at the time of first pregnancy.