Adolescents in India are having sex more often and at a younger age. Rape is also common in this age group.
These findings are part of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's India Country Report on Population and Development.
In the chapter on Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development, the report says: "Sexual relations among adolescents tend to start early, involve multiple partners and often are casual. They are also characterized by lack of contraception or condom use, and occasionally involve coercion and non-consensual experiences."
The report further says that misconceptions aside, a large number of teenagers don't even know the correct way of using a condom. "Young people between the ages of 10 and 25 years make up for 50 per cent of new HIV infections," it concludes chillingly.
Only 59 per cent adolescents know about condoms and 49 per cent about contraceptive pills, the report says. "Instead of asking adolescents not to have sex, we have to give them information on how to protect themselves," says Anjali Gopalan, director, Naz Foundation India. "Children are not stupid, they will protect themselves if they know how."