Priests, card printers, flower decorators and tent suppliers are among the many players in the lucrative wedding industry being enlisted to help authorities in southern India crack down on child marriages. Priests in southern Telangana state have been told to request proof of age for the bride and groom before marrying them, while officials there are checking in villages to see if any child marriages are being planned or performed. The drive is focused on rural parts of Telangana, where more than 30 percent of boys and girls married as children, according to government data for 2015-16. The legal age of marriage in India is 18 for a women and 21 for men. — Reuters


indian priests;early child marriage