Four crore single women excluded from census, government schemes

NEW DELHI: They are estimated at 40 million but continue to be invisible to the government. Women who have been abandoned, deserted, never-married continue to be excluded in the census and government welfare programs. Over one lakh single women under the aegis of the National Forum for Single Women's Rights are in the capital seeking to be counted with better access to social security schemes, health and education. The group has also written to PM Narendra Modi with their demands.

Like Rajasthan's Lali Dhankar who was a child bride at 18 months of age and was widowed at 21 years. Her fondness for mehndi and bindi earned her taunts from her in-laws and one night she and her two daughters were thrown out of her marital house. "I was not accepted back by my parents. I was alone till I found the Single Women's forum. Now I wear coloured clothes, use nail-polish or mehndi and wear jewelry,'' she said. The change in Dhankar is not just cosmetic. With the support of the forum she has completed her school education and that of her daughters. "I passed class XII and wanted to study further but the fees is too much,'' she said.

Maharashtra's Savita Kamble's moment of freedom came when she performed the rituals for her daughter's wedding. "The ceremony of `kanyadaan' is done by the father but the Forum women insisted that I perform the ritual...I have tears in my eyes even now when I think about it," she said. Kamble was given significant financial help for the wedding by the Forum.

But the Forum's convener Ginny Srivastava hopes that many more marginalized women can be accessed. "We hope that the government will hear us. We are not begging, we are demanding our rights," she said.

The organization has demanded a minimum pension of Rs 2000 for widowed, separated, divorced and older-never-married women. The forum has also sought changes in law to ensure that single women have land and property rights, are able to access health and education facilities besides social security schemes.