News India-Times

Culturally ostracized, socially marginalized, traumatized by personal loss, economically deprived, the widow is discriminated twice-as a woman and as a widow. The bleak picture of the widows of Vrindavan is changing slowly. At the forefront of the movement to give vocational training and economic dignity to widows and other destitute women is ‘Guild of Service' which runs ‘Aamar Bari' for 103 widows.

According to the 2001 census, nine per cent of the total female population are widows in India. In 2004 there were 372,000 war widows. Every fourth house in India has a widow but there have been few state interventions.

One intervention, aimed at extending social security benefits to widows is the old age pension scheme. Almost all states and union territories have old age pension scheme for those above 65 years. Andhra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have special pension schemes for agriculture labor.

In Kerala, destitute widows of 40 and above are eligible for pension. Similar schemes exist in Orissa and Gujarat for a widow of 50 and 45 years respectively. Karnataka provides pension for widow of 18 years. A widow is considered destitute if she is without any regular income and has no relation of 20 years or above, particularly a son or grandson and has not remarried.

Widows without relatives, who do not own land or a house worth Rs.1000 ($ 25.48), who do not wear jewels worth Rs. 500 ($12.74) or more or who do not have regular employment are also considered destitute. The destitute widow has to apply on a prescribed form to the tehsildar, who after verification and sanction dispatches the amount by money order. However, accessing the pension is a Herculean task.

The application forms are not easily available at the panchayat offices or if they are, the concerned officer gives them as a favor. The forms are not user-friendly. The widow, most often illiterate, has to submit proof of age, duly authenticated by the prescribed authority.

The forms have to be submitted at the taluk office which is far off. The widows of Vrindavan have to spend Rs. 10 ($ 0.25) to go to Mathura to submit forms. Follow up requires a couple of more visits. Verification of the form is a long process. Most widows do not have birth certificate to prove their age. Often they pay a private doctor to get a certificate.

There is a great deal of arbitrariness on whether the widow is truly destitute or not. If she has a son or grandson, then the application could be rejected even if they don't want to keep her. Finally after all the effort, the pension obtained is grossly inadequate.

A study of the widows of Vrindavan and Varanasi by Meera Khanna, ‘Guild of Service', in 2003 shows that 66 per cent and 73 percent of those living in rehabilitation homes and boarding houses in Vrindavan have bank accounts.

The corresponding figure for Varanasi is 35 percent and 60 percent. This indicates some modicum of comfort. But 73 percent of those living on the streets have no bank account nor do they have anything to bank on when they fall ill or meet with an accident.

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Article taken from the issue:23 Novemeber, 2007

Labels: agriculture, female population, government employ, labour, old age pension, pension, pension schemes, population, vrindhavan, widows

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