Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Loomba Foundation's project to empower 5,000 widows in Varanasi recently. This project will not only help the widows but it will also support 50,000 of their children and family members. Each widow will receive training in tailoring for two months. Once the training is completed, the Loomba Foundation will give each beneficiary a sewing machine so that they can start their own business or work in a factory to earn money, and become self-reliant. They will be able to educate their children and support their family members.
The widows come to Varanasi to spend the rest of their lives after being ostracised by their families and society. According to the 2011 census more than 90,000 widows are there in Varanasi. Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha said, “I met Lord Loomba about a year ago in Delhi and he mentioned that his foundation would like to support 5,000 widows in Varanasi. I met him again at the House of Lords during my visit to London in November last year. He told me that the Varanasi project had started and it was progressing as planned. Both Lord Loomba and his wife are dedicated to help the widows in India. I am pleased to launch their project here today. I commend their work and feel happy that both of them are present at this event here today”.
Lord Loomba CBE, founder and chairman trustee, thanked the Prime Minister for launching the project and presented a copy of the Loomba Foundation’s recently published “World Widows Report” to him; it is the most authoritative and comprehensive country-wise data source on the plight of widows. The Report reveals that the number of widows in the world has gone up by 9% since 2010. There are over 258 million widows and their 585 million children worldwide.
Lord Loomba also appealed to the Prime Minister saying “since there are over 46 million widows and over 100 million children in India who need support from all of us as individuals, policy makers and corporates alike, the Indian Government should establish a ‘National Commission for Widows’ to help them.” He also added that unless the Indian Government comes forward to help widows, India will never be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals which have been signed by all the governments, including India, at the 69th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York in September 2015.
