A 14-year-old girl with the groom after getting married in 2017 at a Hindu temple near Rajgarh, in Madhya Pradesh state. AP
A 14-year-old girl with the groom after getting married in 2017 at a Hindu temple near Rajgarh, in Madhya Pradesh state. AP
A 14-year-old girl with the groom after getting married in 2017 at a Hindu temple near Rajgarh, in Madhya Pradesh state. AP
A 14-year-old girl with the groom after getting married in 2017 at a Hindu temple near Rajgarh, in Madhya Pradesh state. AP

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Indian police arrest 1,800 in crackdown on child marriage

Survey reveals that in Assam, 31 per cent of women between 20 and 24 were married before they turned 18

Taniya Dutta
Taniya Dutta

February 03, 2023

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Authorities in India’s Assam state on Friday arrested more than 1,800 “husbands” and their relatives after launching a crackdown on child marriages in the region.

Indian law prohibits the marriage of women below 18 years of age and of men under 21, but child marriages are prevalent throughout the country.

A National Family Health Survey in 2019 found that almost one in five — 23.3 per cent — women between 20 and 24 years old were married before they turned 18. The percentage rose to 31 per cent in Assam, according to the survey.

The remote state in India's north-east has a high maternal and infant mortality rate and child marriage is believed to be the main cause, according to the government. Like much of the country, it lacks a robust healthcare system.

State Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the crackdown was an attempt to stop child marriages in Assam.

“State-wide arrests are presently under way against those violating provisions of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act ― 1,800-plus have been arrested so far … I have asked Assam Police to act with a spirit of zero tolerance against the unpardonable and heinous crime on women,” Mr Sarma said.

The state government will charge those who have married off girls below 14 years of age under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, or Pocso Act, while the men who have married teenage girls in the 14-18 years age group will be charged under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

Mr Sarma, who belongs to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, announced the state-wide drive last month and said police would book those people who participated in child marriages in the past seven years.

He said that the war was against child marriage and that no community would be singled out.

"Action will be taken against all, irrespective of caste, creed, religion. Those who facilitate such marriages, like clerics and priests, will also face action," he said.

But the majority of more than 4,000 cases registered over two weeks have been in Dhubri and Morigaon, two Muslim-majority districts, and Hojai and Nalbari two districts with sizeable Muslim populations.

On Women's Day
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Defence review at a glance

• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”

• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems

• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.

• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%

• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade

• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels

Updated: February 03, 2023, 2:10 PM
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