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The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) paints even a more dismal picture of the future of girls in their childhood worldwide. Roughly, 10 million additional child marriages may occur in the next 10 years because of the adverse impact of Covid-19.
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Whatever gains the country may have achieved over the past decade is sure to be offset by this abnormal increase in early marriage prompted by the various consequences of the pandemic.
In effect, negative impact will not only subject the victims to lifelong sufferings but also leave its escalating collateral damage for generations. With one of the high incidences of child marriage, India will also be hurt grievously on this score.
Obviously the UNICEF is highly concerned. In the last decade 25 million child marriages could be averted globally, which underscores a 15 per cent decrease in such unwanted matrimonies.
Significantly, 650 million girls and women alive today became victims of child marriage and what is still more alarming is that half of those live in Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India and Nigeria. Bangladesh with 51 per cent of child marriage has the highest rate among the South Asian nations.
Quite understandably, the social movement created over the past few years by young girls themselves —a few of them either had the misfortune of becoming victim of child marriage or somehow averted the curse —and local organisations with patronage from non-government organisations or UN bodies has its momentum stymied during the pandemic. Poor parents could not help marrying their underage daughters off under pressing circumstances.
However, one of the targets set out under the Sustainable Development Goals was to end the practice of child marriage by 2030.
The provision for punishment in case of child marriage during the ultimate testing time of a pandemic of this order can hardly be effective when in normal time it is flouted by a section of people including those responsible for marriage registration. It is a sad tale that even girls aged 10-12 were married off.
Of the many reasons that have compelled poor parents to marry their underage daughters, the prominent ones are closure of school for such a long time, parents’ income erosion and insecurity of girl child.
In such a situation, regular payment of the monthly stipend girl students received could have acted as a disincentive to their marriage. In fact poor families with schoolgoing girls should have been identified for special assistance like a stimulus package.
The task of addressing their problem under a programme with involvement of local administration, education office and even NGOs could be easily accomplished. There is still time to undertake such a programme.
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Darknet
Definition:
Darknet, also known as dark web or darknet market, refers to the part of the internet that is not indexed or accessible through traditional search engines. It is a network of private and encrypted websites that cannot be accessed through regular web browsers and requires special software and configuration to access.
The darknet is often associated with illegal activities such as drug trafficking, weapon sales, and hacking services, although not all sites on the darknet are illegal.
Examples:
Examples of darknet markets include Silk Road, AlphaBay, and Dream Market, which were all shut down by law enforcement agencies in recent years.
These marketplaces operate similarly to e-commerce websites, with vendors selling various illegal goods and services, such as drugs, counterfeit documents, and hacking tools, and buyers paying with cryptocurrency for their purchases.
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Artificial Intelligence
Definition:
AI, or artificial intelligence, refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, such as recognizing speech, making decisions, and understanding natural language.
Examples:
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