Child marriage and teenage pregnancy is a common issue in India, particularly in the remote parts across the nation. As per a recent report published by the state’s economics and statistics department, Kerala has around 22,552 young mothers, who are aged below 19 years, which is the highest literacy rate in the country.
The report went on to add that mothers within the age group of 15 to 19 are responsible for 4.48 per cent of live births in Kerala in 2017. The urban areas, the number of live births by mothers in this age category was 16,639, while in rural areas it was 5,913.
The shocking data also showed that 137 mothers in rural areas had their second baby before 19 years of age in 2017. As many as 48 mothers and 37 mothers had their third and fourth babies, respectively before they attained 19.
The delivery of girls below the age of 15 is not reported. Well, it is learnt that 11 girls have delivered a baby before the reached 15 years of age in the state. According to a report, 22,552 live births of teenage mothers- 17,082 belonged to the Muslim community while 4,734 of them belonged to Hindus and 702 of them are Christians.
The religion-wise statistics show that the majority of them belonged to the Muslim community. But the media outlets used Hindu community pictures as Featured images on their news portals, which is totally not acceptable by any means. This is where the whole problem lies.
It is indeed absurd to see these media outlets targeting the Hindu community even when the count is almost four times less than that of the Muslim community. We are not against any religion but at least we expect the media channels to work genuinely and to not spread hatred.
