FILE photo: BIhar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi

Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has said he favours raising the age for marriage to 25 for both men and women, as prescribed by the "system" in Hindu philosophy. This would ensure good health and address malnutrition, he said.The legal age for marriage in India is 21 years for men and 18 years for women."I believe marriage age for both boy and girl should be raised to 25 in accordance with the age-old tradition ofsystem," Mr Manjhi told reporters on the sidelines of his Janata Darbar programme, started by his predecessor Nitish Kumar."It will solve the problems of bad health and malnutrition among women and infants prevalent in society today," he added.Thesystem divides life into four stages on the basis of age - the first stage is "" (celibacy) till the age of 24. Second one is "" from 24-48, then "" (48-72) and finally "" (72 till death).

"Why has the height of an average person come down to 5 feet from the earlier 7 feet?" he asked and attributed even that to early marriage.The 70-year-old Chief Minister said he married after 25 and attributed his good health to that.