Hyderabad to host widow meet on June 23

Around 15,000 widows are expected to participate in a widow empowerment meeting being organised by the NGO Bala Vikasa, as part of International Widows Day on June 23 in the city.

On Tuesday, Shoury Reddy, Executive Director, Bala Vikasa told press persons that widows continue to be vulnerable to social, psychological, financial, and personal adversities caused by prevailing social taboos.To assess the status of widows, the NGO had conducted a survey in which 80 per cent women described it as distressful to stay away from sindoor and flowers in the name of custom and 43 per cent were hurt at being abused.

Bala



Visaka initiated steps for widow empowerment a decade ago, to achieve equality with strategies such as wearing sindoor and flowers, and organising widow Bathukamma, he said. Around 5,000 widows had contributed to meet the expenses of the scheduled meeting, which shows their determination towards empowerment, Reddy said.

“Widows are discriminated through various means and superstitions of ostracising them have to be changed,” he added.

Assembly Speaker S Madhusudhana Chary, Ministers T Harish Rao and Jogu Ramanna, MP Indrakaran Reddy and others are expected to attend the event.