In Rajasthan, one in three women aged 22 to 24 were married before the age of 18, according to
“I launched the campaign because I knew thousands of other girls were facing similar problems, being pulled out of school and forced into early marriage. Education is supposed to be free until grade 8 [age 14] but never is. Schools impose ‘development’ fees. Scholarships promised to students from marginalised communities never arrive on time,” she says.
The girls took Rajasthan Rising to the streets. They painted slogans on walls calling for free girls’ education and against child marriage. They wrote about discrimination, and emailed Rajasthan’s chief minister, Ashok Gehlot, who sent them a note of encouragement. “Many villagers called us mad. But we had a clear goal, to reach vulnerable girls in all 33 districts of the state and demand long-term change,” says Bairwa.
Vineeta Meena, 20, joined Bairwa. “Our group has intervened and stopped several child marriages. In my village, Gokalpur, my neighbour Saira Bano, 16, was about to be married last year. We formed a group and kept going to her house to protest until her family promised to call it off,” she says. Bano has now joined Rajasthan Rising. In March about 120 of the young women left their homes to travel to Jaipur, accompanied by regional education activists, for the group’s first state-level meeting.