With the aim of eradicating child marriage, Nayagarh, a tiny Odisha district, has adopted a unique initiative by scrupulously recording information on all adolescent girls in the district.
From birth registration date to Aadhaar number, from family details to skill training, information of 48,642 adolescent girls can be found in registers named Aliva.
Nayagarh, with a population of 9,62,789, has a skewed sex ratio at 855. Child marriages the district are still considered a part of their social life.
Observing that child marriages are solemnised in the age group of 14-19.
This leads to dropouts among girls’ students which continued to be high.
The district administration launched the Aliva programme in January, 2022 this year.
Anganwadi workers had been asked to identify every adolescent girl in their jurisdiction and keep tabs on them.
There are 1,584 registers available in 1,584 Anganwadi centres of the district.