Sulabh International founder Bindeshwar Pathak has called upon politicians across party lines to support a draft bill that aims at providing measures for the protection and welfare of nearly 36 million widows in India.
Addressing a national seminar on the conditions of widows at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) yesterday, Pathak expressed shock over the ignorance about widows in the society.
"To end this, we are proposing a draft bill seeking to provide measures to be undertaken by the state for their protection, welfare and giving support to neglected, and destitute widows by establishing a welfare board and creating a separate fund for these women," he said while addressing a two-day seminar that concludes here today.
He said he proposed the bill a few months ago and called upon politicians across party lines to pay attention to it.
Pathak said it was the foremost duty of the state to initiate welfare measures and to protect and provide all necessary support for each and every section of the society.
"Widows are an integral part of our society and as such, the social accommodation of them is the responsibility of the state and the society," he added.
The NGOs should play a pro-active role in supporting the activities of the state and society, Pathak said, adding that their remarriages must be conducted.
"An act we are proposing for the welfare of the widows would be a positive step forward but at the end of the day, the basic problem cannot be solved unless there is a fundamental change in the attitude and behaviour of the members of the society towards their own sisters," he said.
Sociologists, while presenting their papers, said there were millions of unfortunate women, who lose their husbands untimely and become widows.
Their number was nearly three per cent of the total population of the country. Over 50 per cent of these widows were old, infirm, disabled and had no source of income or livelihood, they said.
