Pokhra, baal bibah ma bridhi. POKHARA: Kaski is slowly gaining notoriety for its high rate for under-age marriage. As per the 2011 Census, over 40 per cent of the population have tied the knot before they come of age legally. Most of them were married between the age of 15 and 19. Of the total population of the district that stands at 492,098, there were 102,409 people who married between the age of 15 and 19. Likewise, 7.5 per cent married between the age of 10 and 14. Anil Thapa, director at the Ministry for Health and Population wondered at the high rate of under-age marriage in the district despite its high literacy rate. “If data is anything to go by, we can say that people here are less sensitive about reproductive health,” he argued. Likewise, as per the records of District Public Health office, about 37 per cent of pregnant women who come for check up are below 20 years of age. In places such as Majhthana and Lahachowk, around 40 per cent women conceive before the appropriate age, said Ramesh Prasad Adhikari, senior public health administrator, Kaski. Stakeholders have linked the increasing rate of under-age marriage to early sexual contact between youths facilitated by easy access to the mass media. “In most cases they married out of compulsion after having sexual contact without use of contraceptive. In other cases, they just imitate friends,” said an expert, adding, the rate of divorce among couples who married under-age is also high. Official records in the district show 53 cases of divorce in the last fiscal. DDC sources said their might be even more cases of divorce that have not been registered. According to doctors, conceiving at a young age causes a number of complications in women. Stakeholders have also expressed alarm at the huge population grown rate in Pokhara city in particular, and Kaski in general. Against a population grown rate of 1.35 for the whole country, Kaski and Pokhara have 5.3 and 2.7 population grown rate respectively. - See more at: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Under-age+marriage+rising&NewsID=409202#sthash.4bvIgTDd.dpuf