Hyderabad: To create awareness of the rights of widows, Bala Vikasa hosted a state-level convention and conducted awareness rallies in five states on June 23, marking International Widows Day.
As part of the Widows’ Day activities, awareness rallies on widows’ rights and busting myths about widowhood were conducted in about 50 villages of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Students and communities were sensitised to the discrimination against widowhood.
About 500 rural were encouraged through the programme to fight against discrimination and pave a new path for future generations.
Women representatives from three parties participated in the convention as guests and called for women to stand by each other against every injustice they face in everyday life.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) district women president Lalitha Yadav, Congress party women president Errabelli Swarna and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) women president Padma participated.
Speaking on the occasion, the executive director of Bala Vikasa Shoury Reddy Singareddy said that Bala Vikasa had initiated a social movement for widow emancipation from the discriminatory social practices and superstitions for the last 13 years.
“We have been advocating for a special ‘Prevention of Atrocities against Widows Act,’ special quota in reservation for widows, an exclusive corporation to be set up for the economic upliftment of widows and their children and financial assistance for widow remarriages for the welfare of widows,” said the director.
He further added that the government and everyone should collectively work towards creating an equal and just society for widows and also provide them with opportunities that will help them live a dignified life.
Bala Vikasa is one the leading NGOs in South India that has impacted the lives of over 8 million rural poor from around 8,000 villages of 7 states in India through different community development projects.
It established the Bala Vikasa Center for Social and Responsible Business (CSRB) in Hyderabad to incubate Social startups and promote Responsible Business.
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