Karnataka: '2 of 5 girls are married before 18'

Two of five girls are married off before they attain 18 years in Karnataka, says a study.

North Karnataka leads in the percentage of such child marriages with Raichur District at 59.4 per cent followed by Koppal 51.4 per cent and Bijapur 50.1 per cent, Ms R Padmini of Child Rights Trust said on Monday at the launch of Karnataka Child Rights Observatory.

In her presentation, she said the other districts where the percentage of child marriages was high, causing concern, were Gulbarga (48.9), Bagalkot (48.3), Belgaum (43), Bidar (44.9), Gadag (44.8), Bellary (35.2), Chamarajnagar (34.3), Dharwad (32.4), Mandya (29.9), Bangalore Rural (28.4), Chitradurga (26.6), Kolar (26.3), Tumkur (25.7), Mysore (25.2), Haveri (20.2), Hassan (18.5), Davangere (18.1), Bangalore Urban (12.4), Shimoga (8.9), Uttara Kannada (7.8), Chikmagalur (6.8), Dakshina Kannada (5.5) and Kodagu 2.2).

However, the percentage was lowest at 1.1 in Udipi District.

She said, however, Karnataka's juvenile sex ratio was 94.6, higher than the national average of 92.7. But it was much worse than the overall sex ratio of 96.4 while 15 districts in the state have lower levels, the range being 92.1 to 92.7.

''The trend during the last decade of the 20th century has been worsening except in Kodagu, Haveri and Chamarajnagar Districts, she added.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Child Development Commissioner Shalini Rajanish said that the  state government was taking all measures to protect child rights.

Of the total eight lakh born in the state every day, 92 children die.