Vrindavan widows live in fear, reveals study

“Seventy-eight per cent of the widows, young as well as old, are afraid of physical and sexual harassment and 63 per cent of not getting salvation (moksh),” according to the report titled Dimensions of deprivation: Study on the poverty levels of widows of Vrindavan.

The study is based on detailed questionnaires to over 500 widows between the ages of 24 and 75 living in Vrindavan, Radhakund, Goverdhan, Gokul and Barsana in Uttar Pradesh.

This study, undertaken by a three-member team led by veteran journalist Usha Rai, also looks at the changing face of widowhood in the Braj area — at the widow’s sense of self esteem, their age, literacy levels, and ability to access services as well as how people treat them.

Although 70 per cent of the women had heard of the destitute widow’s pension scheme, only a quarter of them receive pension. Some had applied for pension but had not received it yet.  Three-fifth (58 per cent) had not yet applied for a pension. This was because they didn’t know about the scheme, didn‘t know how to apply for a pension (82 per cent) and didn’t know whom to bribe/approach for the pension.

The UP government, however, says on its website that over 21,000 widows in Mathura district are getting pension.The study shows that though the widows, most of them are from West Bengal, are extremely poor, ironically they eat well and there are no chances of them starving. Almost three-fourth of the widows (72 per cent) eat rice, chapaties, dal and vegetables thrice a day. The rest eat twice a day.

Although widows get money from multiple sources — bhajan ashrams, charity, pension, domestic work, tailoring and candle making — the total does not add up to much. However, whatever money the widows get, they spend with their biggest expenditure being on food, followed by medicine, rent, clothes, travel and pooja. The majority of the widows (83 per cent) earn Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 a month.