Varanasi Administration Forms “District Child Marriage Free India Steering Committee”: NGOs Join Hands to Protect Children

In a major step toward eliminating child marriage and strengthening child-protection mechanisms in Uttar Pradesh, the District Magistrate of Varanasi issued an official order on 9 December 2025 constituting the “District Child Marriage Free India Steering Committee.”

The committee has been formed under directives from the Department of Women Welfare, Uttar Pradesh, to coordinate government and civil society efforts toward making Varanasi a child-marriage-free district.

The scanned government order outlines a robust and multi-departmental structure involving district authorities, police, health, education, women and child development departments, and leading civil society organizations.

A Multi-Sector Committee for Ending Child Marriage

The committee comprises key district officials:

• District Magistrate — Chairperson

• Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Women Crime) — Member

• Chief Development Officer — Member

• Chief Medical Officer — Member

• District Probation Officer / Child Marriage Prohibition Officer — Member Secretary

• District School Inspector, Basic Education Officer, Panchayat Raj Officer — Members

• District Programme Officer, Social Welfare Officer — Members

• In-charge, Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) — Member

• Nodal officers from Childline, Human Trafficking Unit, and Shelter Homes — Members

Importantly, the order includes a designated space for NGO and institutional representation, recognizing the crucial role of grassroots organizations in preventing child marriage.

Role of NGOs: PVCHR, ASMITA, SRF, Pratyan and Others

While the government order lists official departments, it also specifies representation from:

• Childline (1098)

• Institutional Care Centers / District Child Protection Units

• NGOs working in women and child welfare

Thus, organizations such as PVCHR, ASMITA, SRF, Pratyan, and other child-rights groups in Varanasi and adjoining districts can actively participate in interventions, community mobilization, training, awareness campaigns, and monitoring.

These organizations play a pivotal role in reporting cases, supporting at-risk children, and mobilizing communities against harmful traditional practices such as child marriage.

PVCHR: A Leading Force in Child Rights and Anti–Child Marriage Advocacy

Among NGOs, PVCHR (People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights) stands out for its longstanding commitment to children’s rights, gender justice, and social transformation. Founded by Dr. Lenin Raghuvanshi, PVCHR is internationally recognized for grassroots human-rights work in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Key Anti–Child Marriage Initiatives of PVCHR

1. Community-Based Prevention Model

PVCHR works in Dalit, OBC, tribal and minority communities where child marriage is prevalent. It creates Bal Mitra Committees, Village Child Protection Committees, and women’s groups to identify early-warning signs and intervene before a child marriage occurs.

2. Awareness & Behaviour Change Campaigns

Through street plays, local leadership training, school programs, and testimonial narratives, PVCHR spreads awareness about:

• Legal consequences of child marriage

• Health risks to adolescent girls

• Importance of education for girls

• Social empowerment and gender equality

3. Direct Intervention and Case Rescue

PVCHR teams routinely assist in:

• Reporting planned child marriages

• Coordinating with police, DCPU, SJPU, and child-protection authorities

• Providing counselling to families

• Offering psychological support through testimonial therapy

4. Advocacy and Policy Influence

PVCHR’s reports, documentation and cases have influenced:

• District-level monitoring

• National and international discussions on child marriage

• Strengthening of preventive mechanisms among panchayats, teachers, and ASHA workers

5. Focus on Caste, Gender and Poverty

PVCHR highlights that child marriage is not just a cultural practice—it is linked deeply to:

• Caste-based discrimination

• Extreme poverty

• Gender inequality

• Lack of educational opportunities

This structural understanding shapes PVCHR’s targeted interventions.

Why This Committee Matters

Varanasi district faces ongoing challenges such as:

• Early dropout of girls from schools

• Social pressure on families to marry daughters early

• Caste-based vulnerabilities

• Child labour and trafficking risks

By forming the District Child Marriage Free India Steering Committee, the administration recognizes that ending child marriage requires coordinated action. The involvement of NGOs strengthens the initiative by bringing:

• Ground-level understanding

• Quick response capabilities

• Community trust

• Long-term social engagement

A Collaborative Path Forward

With the integration of government departments and civil-society organizations like PVCHR, SRF, ASMITA and Pratyan, Varanasi is taking a decisive step toward building a safer future for its children. The new committee offers hope that systemic action—supported by community leadership—can reduce and eventually eliminate child marriage in the region.

The coming months will reveal how effectively the committee translates policy intent into real change on the ground. What is clear already is that child marriage prevention is no longer just a social issue—it's a coordinated institutional priority.

✅ Who is PVCHR — Short Background

• PVCHR was founded in 1996, based in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. 

• Its mission is to secure basic rights for marginalized and vulnerable communities — including children, women, Dalits, Adivasis, minorities — through grassroots activism, documentation, legal aid, community empowerment, and systemic advocacy. 

• The organization works across Uttar Pradesh and several other states, covering hundreds of villages and urban areas. 

Given PVCHR’s wide scope — human rights, gender, caste justice, poverty, child labour — its child-rights and anti-child-marriage interventions are part of a broader effort to protect vulnerable children and oppressed communities.

📚 PVCHR’s Efforts Against Child Marriage & for Children’s Rights

While PVCHR’s public documentation does not always label every activity as “child-marriage prevention,” several concrete examples show that child-rights and prevention of early / forced or exploitative marriages are integral to their work. Below are some documented efforts:

• Community-based Child Protection & Awareness Campaigns

• On 8 November 2024, PVCHR published a blog post titled “Breaking Barriers: Chanda and Her Fight Against Child Marriage in Varanasi’s Urban Slum”, describing how young girls from a slum (Baghwanala, Varanasi) formed a local children’s council (Bal Panchayat / “Munshi Prem Chandra Bal Panchayat”) to oppose planned child marriages — supported by PVCHR (and its affiliated body). 

• Through street plays, local mobilization, public events and youth leadership, they helped transform community attitudes: reportedly reducing child marriages, increasing birth registration, improving school enrolment and access to basic services among children in that area. 

• This grassroots approach focuses on empowering children and families with knowledge about their rights, ensuring early-warning and community-surveillance when child marriages are being planned — which is crucial in communities where social pressures and poverty push families toward early marriages.

• Rescue, Rehabilitation and Legal-Support for At-Risk Children

• PVCHR has a history of rescuing children from exploitation — child labour, bonded labour, trafficking, hazardous work, and forced marriages / domestic servitude — especially in marginalized and caste-oppressed communities. Link: Lenin Raghuvanshi Is Challenging Deep-Rooted Patriarchy in India

• The organization provides testimonial therapy, community counselling and legal aid to victims and survivors — helping them recover, reclaim their dignity, and reintegrate through education or safe shelter. 

• In many villages, PVCHR has worked to reactivate defunct primary schools, encourage girls’ education, and provide non-formal education — all of which reduce vulnerabilities that often lead to child marriage. Link: PVCHR: A warrior against human rights violations – TwoCircles.net

• Creating Alternative, Child-Friendly Community Structures

• PVCHR’s model of “people-friendly villages” (Jan-Mitra Villages) aims to build democratic, non-violent and inclusive local communities. Within these, marginalized groups — including children — have representation and support. 

• Through these structures, PVCHR works to ensure constitutional rights and equal access to education, health, legal protection for children and other vulnerable groups.

• Advocacy, Documentation and Networking at National and International Level

• PVCHR documents human rights violations — including child-rights abuses — and raises them with media, national human-rights institutions, and international forums. 

• This ensures that issues like child labour, child marriage, caste-based discrimination, bonded labour are placed on larger policy and accountability platforms. 

• Leadership and Credibility — Vital for Outreach & Impact

• PVCHR’s founders and leaders — notably Lenin Raghuvanshi and Shruti Nagvanshi — are well-known social activists for caste justice, gender rights, child labour abolition and human rights. 

• Their credibility helps build trust in marginalized communities, vital for sensitive issues like child marriage prevention, especially in socially conservative or caste-oppressed areas. 

📝 Why PVCHR’s Work Matters — Strategic Value

• Child marriage is often rooted in poverty, caste-based oppression, lack of education and social exclusion — areas that are central to PVCHR’s mandate. Their integrated approach addresses these root causes rather than just symptomatic cures.

• By combining grassroots mobilization, community institutions, legal aid, education and awareness, PVCHR offers a holistic, sustainable model for child protection — rather than one-time rescue missions.

• Their documentation and human-rights reporting help maintain accountability at district, state and national levels — critical for systemic change in communities vulnerable to child marriage, trafficking, bonded labour, caste violence.

⚠️ What the Public Record Lacks — Some Gaps & Needs

• While PVCHR’s work on child labour, bonded labour, caste justice and general child-rights is well documented, there is less explicitly labeled “child-marriage statistics” published by PVCHR (or in accessible public reports) — i.e. number of child marriages prevented, number of girls rescued from planned child marriages etc.

• Much of the evidence is anecdotal / narrative-based (case studies, blog posts) rather than systematic quantitative data — this limits external evaluation and large-scale policy replication.

• The scope seems localized (villages/slums around Varanasi and parts of Uttar Pradesh). Rural-urban replication and scale-up remain a challenge in a large country like India.

✅ PVCHR is a Key Actor — More Support & Visibility Needed

Based on publicly available documentation, PVCHR stands out as one of the few organizations in Uttar Pradesh with a comprehensive, rights-based, community-driven approach to protect children — particularly girls — from early and forced marriages, child labour, caste-based exploitation, and systemic discrimination.

Their model — combining rescue, education, community organizing, legal aid and institutional advocacy — offers a sustainable blueprint. But for broader impact across India, enhanced support, better data, and stronger collaborations (government, civil society, policy makers) are essential.

Given your interest and involvement, PVCHR remains a strong and credible partner for advocacy, monitoring, and intervention on issues related to child rights, caste justice, and human dignity.