Under a law which came into effect on October 1, the legal age of marriage has been raised in India to 21 for men and 18 for women, an increase of 3 years from the old minimum. The new law is designed to help slow the population growth rate by deferring parenthood. The Herald Tribune suggests the law may not have much effect. "Just as many of India's 600,000 villages are almost outside the money economy, they are also outside the realm of social legislation dictated from New Delhi".