1,000-bed facility to bring new hopes to widows in Vrindavan

Sometime in late January this year, minister of women and child development Maneka Gandhi had announced a facility for widows in Vrindavan. To be built on over three-and-a-half acres of land and at a sum of Rs 60 crores, the facility will be able to house 1,000 beds, and will be inaugurated sometime this week, most likely on Tuesday.

An official said that the ministry is looking at concerted efforts to make lives better for the widows of Vrindavan. "The facility will be the biggest such facility for the welfare of widows in the country. Apart from it, we have also giving out financial benefits to these women," the official said.

The ministry will also keep an eye on state-run institutions that house several widows, the official added. And that, a report had been sought from Uttar Pradesh government, and that consultations with several people, like activists, social workers, legal practitioners, are going on at the moment.

Vrindavan today has over 3,000 widows, and there are over 10 state-run ashrams that house many widows. Most of these ashrams are taken care of by NGOs. But activists says that many women do not get the pension that is mandated to them by the state, while some say that they get them only after five to six months.

Bindeshwar Pathak of the Sulabh International runs an ashram for widows, where they are provided with a host of facilities like medical help, amenities like TV and fridge, and a helpline. Apart from that the facility also imparts vocational classes to make garlands, incense sticks, and clothes for temples, and languages classes. They also give the women a stipend of Rs 2,000 per month, and a proper cremation if the pass away.

Pathak says that the move to have a facility like this is a welcome one. "Any step that the government, or any other organisation, takes towards the betterment of the widows, is applaudable. Many of the women in Vrindavan are like the living dead," he says.

Dr Laxmi Gautam is the recipient of the first Nari Shakti Puraskar by the WCD ministry, and is a close friend to many of the widows in Vrindavan. She says that the widows in ashrams are better off, but it is not the same for those on the streets.

"The women on the streets are more in number that those inside ashrams, and when pilgrims donate, the donations are usually directed at ashrams. The women on the streets live on practically nothing," says Laxmi. Laxmi has been cremating the dead on the streets since 1991, when she came across a dead body while on her way back from Mathura with her daughter.

"There were so many people but no one did anything, so I decided to cremate her," says Dr Laxmi. She says that she took to cremating the dead properly since 2009, and have cremated over hundreds of women by now. She insists that she only cremated women.

There are not enough health facilities, and many women die on the streets, she said. There were also reports several years ago of dead bodies being put in sacks and thrown into the Yamuna nearby as there would be none to take care of their last rites.

When Gandhi had announced the scheme, there were several concerns that a facility like this will further encourage families to abandon their women. Laxmi, however, says that the WCD ministry must look at the root fo the problem. "Why are there so many widows coming from West Bengal alone? The problem is a societal one, and they should tie up with the state governments to look at that," she says. "If they work to stop that today, we will see the results in 25 years, perhaps."

A NALSA report in 2012 said that the government should work with the state governments of West Bengal and Odisha to help stem the problem. Dr Laxmi was a part of the survey that led to the report.

Pathak says that more than the resources, what the widows need is the feeling of being part of a family. "Most of these women have been abandoned by children they have raised themselves, or because their husbands have died. They need a lot of love," he says.