An unending plight

In 1856, barely a year before the Sepoy Mutiny, a landmark legislation was passed by the British, thanks to the untiring efforts of a great educationist, humanist, and a social reformer of Bengal, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. Though the Widow Remarriage Act wasn’t without flaws, it was hailed as a watershed since it strove to resist a millennium-old tradition of oppressing women in the name of religion. Cut to 2017, and the Supreme Court, moved by the deplorable conditions of widows, asks the Centre to formulate a scheme to promote and facilitate their remarriage.

In the trajectory of a nation, which attained independence 70 years ago, 161 years is a long stretch of time. But, the germs of stigma deeply embedded in people’s minds has survived many a surgical strike of enlightenment. Back then, an orthodox society had decried the move, terming the Act as a death knell to Hinduism. Now, an indifferent society, perhaps a little less rigid about medieval mores, continues with its cruelty in less obvious ways.

India is home to the largest number of widows in the world — as per the 2011 Census, they comprise 4.6 per cent of the population, i.e., 5.6 crore. They belong to different age groups, which, draw attention to another inhumane practice of child marriage that was first prohibited by the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929. Most members of the age group of 10-19, comprising .45 per cent of the entire widow population, are victims of this scourge. Can facts stir a nation’s conscience?