International widows day and their condition in India
“Widow. The word consumes itself”.
23rd June observed “International widows day” by United Nation in light of creating awareness about the situation and maltreatment of windows in the world.
The theme of this year’s International widow Day is “ invisible women, Invisible Problems”.
Women who lose their husband due to any cause are known to be a widow. According to United Nation, There are more than 258 million widows around the world, suffering from daily needs. They tolerate major issues like poverty, violence, health-related problem and war/conflicts effects.
“ Human Rights are for everyone and not contingent on marital status. For many widows, losing rights, income, and possibly their children. On International Widows Day, let’s commit to providing widows with access to legal and social protection”.
-Antonio Guterres
- India and widow condition
History and background
Raja ram Mohan Roy worked hard to abolished the sati pratha in India.
In the past, In the sati pratha is a ritual where the wife of a dead husband, had to sit on her pyre and burn alive.
British abolish sati pratha on 4 December 1829.
Still today, the mentality remains the same.
They were forced to shaved their head and prohibit to wear colourful clothes.
They were even called “Husband Eater”.
They were not allowed to enjoy any festival.
They were kept separately as to punish her, and were tortured by society by calling “ Bad Luck “ to be seen in the morning.
To sum all, widows were tortured and abused for centuries and centuries
India emerged as a welfare sate, and implement major scheme of widows in the country .
They come under the Ministry of women and child development.
- The major schemes and Acts of government of India are as under –
- Indira Gandhi National widow pension schemes (IGNWPS) :-
Under IGNWPS pension scheme for widows as well as Pension scheme for the Elderly below poverty line .
IGNWPS was launched in 1995 as a part of the National Social Assistance Programme.
A widow in age group of 40 to 65 years whose family falls under Below poverty line is eligible under this scheme.
She is initiated to receive Rs 200/- per month and Rs 400 per month by the state government.
- Home for widows:-
A Home for widows has been set up in Vrindavan, UP with a capacity of 1000 inmates to provide widows with a safe and secure place of stay, health services, nutritious food, legal and counselling services.
- The Widow Remarriage Act of 1856:-
According to this legislation, a Hindu widow had to give up any rights to property , or maintenance from her dead husband’s property, if she married again.
- The current Inheritance Laws For Widows :-
- The Hindu Succession 1956 applies to Hindus. Skikhs, jains and Buddhist for intestate succession / inheritance.
- The Indian Succession Act , 1925, particularly Sections 50 to 56, apply to Parsis for intestate succession.
- The Indian succession Act , 1925 , particularly Section 31 to 49, apply to Christians and news for intestate succession.
- The law of succession governing Muslims, for intestate succession, is the Muslim Personal Law Application Act, 1937.
Even though there are many schemes and acts for widows in India. But the condition of widows on a grassroots level is devastated. More than half of the windows don’t even know their rights and government scheme.
We have to take steps to aware them at the grassroots level.
Eduindex News 