Agartala: Ten villages in Tripura‘s Sepahijala district, under the flagship initiative Mission Sankalp, have been awarded the ‘Aspiring Child Marriage Free’ certification for successfully preventing child marriages over the past six months.
Sepahijala, a border district sharing a significant stretch with neighbouring Bangladesh, has emerged as a model of grassroots-level action in combating child marriage and teenage pregnancy through proactive governance and community-driven change.
The certified villages represent the first batch to receive formal recognition under the program’s three-tier certification system.
Sepahijala district magistrate Siddharth Shiv Jaiswal said under the visionary initiative Mission Sankalp, the Sepahijala district administration is working proactively to eliminate child marriage and teenage pregnancy.
“A crucial component of this initiative is the recognition and incentivisation of villages that demonstrate commitment towards creating a Child Marriage Free (CMF) environment,” he said.
He added, “An Aspiring CMF Village (bronze category) is one where no child marriage is reported in the last 6 months, an Rising CMF Village (silver category) is one where no child marriage is reported in the last 12 months and a Model CMF Village (gold category) is one where no child marriage is reported in the last 24 months.”
On the Certification Process Overview, the official said the gram pradhan submits a certified declaration to the BDO office. Later, the BDO verifies the claim and forwards it to the SDM, who presents the proposal to the sub-divisional task force.
Approved proposals are sent to the district magistrate within one month, and later the district-level task force reviews and certifies eligible villages.
The district administration will continue to encourage villages to aspire for higher categories of recognition by maintaining sustained efforts against child marriage.
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Ten villages across three rural development blocks in Sepahijala have now received certification. Jampuijala block accounts for five of these: Promod Nagar, Doyarampara, Twima, JK Nagar, East Ratnapur, and West Ratnapur. Charilam block contributed Ramnagar and Batharmura, with Nalchar block adding Rampadapara and Padmininagar to the list.
