Lost Generations
Pushpa was only 13 when her mother forced her to drop out of school and get married. She was 14 when she had her baby, and today at 15 her health - as a child mother - has suffered, and she finds looking after her baby very difficult. And Pushpa's case isn't unusual. In six Indian states, the average age for marrying among rural girls is under fourteen years. Both the young mothers and their babies suffer from this early childbearing. Some mothers and babies die, and as many as one Indian baby in three is born with low birthweight (under 2.5 kg) - a handicap that remains with them for the rest of their lives.