The Loomba Foundation was honoured that the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi launched our project to empower 5,000 impoverished widows in Varanasi on 22nd January, 2016. Each widow will receive a vocational skills training in tailoring for two months. On completion of the training, they will be given a foot-operated sewing machine.
During the event, Lord Raj Loomba called upon the Prime Minister, appealing to him to establish a National Commission for Widows in India. There are over 46 million widows and 100 million their children, who suffer in silence. Many of them are abused physically, psychologically and sexually.Indian government has a responsibility to protect and provide for all Indian citizens, and widows are often excluded from social security and assistance at present. National and international agreements are clear that widows ought to be a protected group.The protection of widows is become increasingly a priority for international bodies.
The UN Secretary General HE Ban-Ki Moon has declared, “It is our collective responsibility to safeguard the human rights and dignity of widows, in line with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”The UN National Consultation Report Post-2015 Development Framework for India identified widows as a particularly at risk group, and included the economic empowerment of women, including widows, and improving health services for marginalised women among its post-2015 development goals.
The international focus on widows is increasing and a National Commission for Widows would demonstrate that the Government of India is committed to ending discrimination and lessening the struggle faced by the more than 40 million widows in India.Widows becoming economically active members of society would bring great benefits to the Indian economy, and allow their children to be educated, benefitting the next generation.Assisting widows through a commission such as this would be far more efficient than current piecemeal attempts, by bodies which lack experience and adequate research.
At present, even census data does not distinguish between widows and divorced or separated women.Compulsory representation of women in local panchayats has improved the status of women, demonstrating the effect that a high-profile commission for widows could have.The empowerment of widows could have a very positive effect on the national economy, with increasing economic activity, and therefore less reliance on state assistance in the long-term. This will also include the empowerment of widows’ children, through education, allowing them to be economically active too.ConclusionA National Commission for Widows is the most effective and efficient way to improve the situation of widows across India.The Government has a responsibility to offer economic, legal and educational assistance to widows, and to ensure that it acts to counter and discourage discrimination.A National Commission for Widows would be able to cater for all of the needs of widows, and assist the government in the creation of policy and providing accurate research.
