Punjab leads in highest number of soldiers' widows in India, states MoD data

A recently released data by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), shows the number of widows in every state, Punjab being on top of the list with 74,253 women, which makes up 10.63 per cent of the total number of widows.

Punjab has been marked as the state where the most number of widow women reside; not just the widows of war veterans, but the overall highest number of widows.

According to officials, this is the total number of women who are widows of soldiers and who may have passed away for any other reason, as reported by The Tribune.

A recently released data by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) shows the number of widows in every state, with Punjab being on top of the list with 74,253 women, which makes up 10.63 per cent of the total number of widows.

Following a question from Member of Parliament Sunil Dattatray Tatkare regarding the welfare of widows of former service members, the topic of widows was raised.

Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt informed the Lok Sabha that "the widows are entitled to family pension, which is revised under one rank one pension (OROP) after every five years."

As explained by Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, "OROP implies that uniform pension has to be paid to the Armed Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service regardless of their date of retirement. Thus, OROP implies bridging the gap between the rate of pension of the current pensioners and the past pensioners at periodic intervals."

"The government said the revised OROP will give benefits to family pensioners including war widows and differently abled pensioners."

Ajay Bhatt also said, "the family pension is linked with dearness relief which is revised after every six months. Compassionate appointments have been granted to 32 widows of the deceased defence personnel during 2022."

After Punjab, nationwide, Kerala ranks the second with 69,507 widows and Uttar Pradesh ranks third with 68,815 widows. The lowest number of widows are recorded in Andaman and Nicobar with 192 widowed women.