Bhopal is basically the capital
for Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh is the central part of India.
Majority we have middle class families
and many people migrating from villages.
We have around 300 to 400 slum areas,
slum pockets also.
In '92 me and my husband Anup
we started our organization Aarambh in Bhopal.
We started working with small projects.
We started picking up children near the railway stations.
They were like basically the ragpickers.
So we started a small non-formal education center,
taking out some money from our own pocket.
We also run a number of projects
which have been funded by different funding partners.
One of the projects is the child help line
which is a government of India's project.
And it has got a special number 1098,
which is a pan-India number.
And through Childline we ensure
that any child who has been exploited
or been abused, the child is protected.
We have been working with children, street children
and all kind of exploitation
which have been faced by children.
But child marriage was never a focus area for us
because we hardly got any call on this.
Earlier people were not reporting.
Now people are reporting.
So now we come to know
that child marriage is happening at a prominent level.
And we start talking to them, discussing,
and then just making them aware
that you should not do this.
So if people agree happily,
in that case,
what we do is we take the entire family
to the police station
and then we have a document being prepared
in the police station
and that they will not get their children married
before the age.
In some cases
where the people become very adamant
they start fighting
then there's a whole community surrounded.
Suddenly we had never realized
that 1098 will be flooded
with child marriage cases.
Before Covid, 2017-18,
we had around 27 cases
and 2019-20
we had Covid, we had around 35
or 34 cases.
And then 2020-21,
we suddenly, it was like 54 cases.
So it just shot up like that.
There were many reasons.
The government they're talking about this,
the marriage age should be increased
from 18 to 21 for a girl.
So now most of the marriages are happening
because of that fear.
There are a number of girls,
four or five girls in the family.
Maybe now we have more families
who have lost the head of the family.
And the mother is saying,
I won't be able to take care of them.
They said we don't have to invite many guests.
In less expenses we can get the marriage done.
Child marriage in India is an issue in context
of the progressive laws of India
and the social context of India as such.
With the tradition of Indian society believing
in early marriages,
that heritage of belief lingers on for centuries.
And that's why after the Indian constitution came up,
India introduced a lot of new
and progressive laws which hit at the social norms.
And the whole issue of law enforcement
then becomes a challenge.
The police forces is very concerned
about creating an impact
by the exemplary effect of enforcement of the law.
You get information
and you suddenly go
and raid that place
and you do it.
There is an exemplary effect.
Other people come to know
that yes, this is wrong.
For every five marriages prevented,
I would say there would have been 15
or 20 marriages not even taking place,
which would have taken place,
had these public education programs would not
have taken place with the help of the NGOs
like Archana Sahay's NGO
and other similar NGOs.
I was born and brought up in Bhopal
and I studied in a convent school.
Our sisters who used to teach us,
they used to do a lot of social work.
They used to take us along
in the communities where they,
they did kind of,
some help to the families and all.
So that all motivated me.
And I became gradually that,
helping people became a part of my responsibility.
Bhopal had faced the gas tragedy in 1984.
At that time I was a student of social work.
We got the opportunity to work with these affected families,
especially with children
because many children were left alone,
their parents were dead.
And then connecting them with their extended family
that was one of the major areas of what we did.
And many children were also orphans
so we connected them with the shelter homes,
we connected them with the orphanages.
Since then I wanted to work for my city.
What we have done is the right thing
because it's not just about marriage,
it's about
what happens after marriage
if it is done before 18 years.
There are health issues, economical issues.
Maybe today she's not understanding,
tomorrow she will really understand
that what was done for her was right.
Now she's sad.
So this sadness is making us feel a little uncomfortable
because she's already grown up
and we will be not in a position
to put her in a regular school.
So we feel bad.
And we are not able to find out many ways,
many opportunities for her to
do something in her life
and do something for herself.
Definitely this is a setback.
These issues teach us a lot.
When the child was being rescued
from the abusive situation.
And now when I see the children doing good
and when the children call me back
and then they tell about their success,
their own family
and what they're doing,
and still they remember me
that's the most satisfying thing which I get.
To stand up,
to fight in this world of men,
to make my own position was a big challenge for me.
But I got support from my husband.
He said, I don't want you to be recognized
as my wife, I'll feel proud when people will say
that I am your husband.
There were quite a few situations in all these 30 years
where people tried to put me down.
Because my father used to say
it's your fight,
you have to do it.
So it was always my fight.
And I'm happy
that I have won.
All the fights
I have won.