Currently engaged, alongwith a host of social influencers, policy and law experts, in drafting a resolution and creating a forum to draft a policy document to demand a law to end discrimination against widows, my task include talking to various agencies, stakeholders, constitutional experts and social reformers to understand the nity gritty of the proposed law, the complexity of the issue at hand, and the way forward.
Among the many that I am in conversation with on the subject is none other than the social reformer from Solapur himself -- Pramod Zinjade whose small initiative in Kolhapur"s Herwad village has scripted a movement in Maharashtra, and its ripple effect felt in Goa too -- with more than four panchayats in Goa already adopting resolutions to end discriminatory widowhood practices and ensure dignity of life, equal rights and inclusiveness to the widow.
The Herwad village which passed the resolution on May 4 to become India's first village to adopt such a resolution was followed by the Maharashtra government issuing a circular asking all gram panchayats in the state to adopt the "Herwad model" -- thanks to the efforts of Zinjade, who runs the Mahatma Phule Samaj Seva Mandal in Solapur district, who is now following up with the state government, demanding that a law be framed to end the "regressive" traditions.
The pioneering move by this village and the panchayats that followed suit in Maharashtra as well as in Goa is being seen as the beginning of the enactment of a law to safeguard the dignity of widows. Zinjade has set the ball rolling by ensuring that both the houses of the Maharashtra state legislature will discuss the issue during the monsoon session to be held in July, while the law and judiciary department will see if a new legislation is required or the existing laws can be amended to favour abolishing of the practices and ensure dignity of life to widows.
Furthermore, Zinjade has given his suggestions to the government regarding what provisions should be there in the proposed or amended law. Some of which include -- The other widows who disfigure the deceased man's grieving wife, the relatives who silently watch it happen, the villagers who participate in the funeral should all be held guilty for humiliating the widow. The women who perform the regressive actions should be punished with three months to one year in jail and Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh penalty be imposed on them.
The relatives should be punished for 15 days to one month in jail and Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 penalty. While the participants in the funeral should be punished by way of making them sit together for a day in the village itself. A monitoring committee should be set up to check if the law is being violated at the local level. The committee should have 50 per cent women as members and half of them should be widows, Zinjade proposed.
His suggestions include -- two committee members should be present at the place where a male member of the family has died and they should see if the wife is being humiliated with the regressive practices. He also demands that people who don't respect widows during social, religious or cultural functions should also be punished with 15 days jail sentence.
Interestingly, Zinjade who believes in a two pronged strategy -- social awareness and legal framework worked extensively on creating awareness regarding doing away with the regressive practices related to widows for over five months alongwith the village panchayat representatives, created a WhatsApp group of sarpanchas from different parts of the state -- all this before the first resolution to this effect was passed at Hewad.
Interestingly, on March 29, Zinjade submitted an affidavit on a Rs. 100 stamp paper to the local tehsildar saying that he had freed his wife from being subjected to the regressive practices faced by a widow after his death, thus walking the talk.
It is pertinent to note that in my brief interaction with him, he rendered his support to our movement in Goa and has assured to come down to Goa to help us with the movement. This makes the whole excercise more interesting as he is the inspiration behind the movement and getting to work with a social reformer like him will certainly get us the required results.
While I am trying to avail of any official data with regards to the widow population in Goa, according to various reports that I have researched in pursuance of my task, it is estimated that there are some 40 million widows in our country which means almost 10 percent of India's female population, making India the country with the largest widow population in the world. While the experiences of widowhood varies across socio-economic statuses, customs, religion, tradition and eras in India, the common thing is that most women are still subjected to customary laws, deep-rooted patriarchal traditions, religious legislations and extensive prejudice in inheritance rights -- this ultimately resulting in shunning and abandoning widows.
While it goes without saying that such deep rooted patriarchal practices enforced in the name of customary or religious rituals, need intervention measures, I strongly believe that law itself can be used as an instrument for creating social change. It is pertinent to note that
Article 14 of the Constitution talks about the right to equality and equal protection in the eyes of law. This very Article of the Constitution promises the rule of law as the very essence of the Constitution. It is not just the fundamental rights that the Constitution provides but also a set of principles, known as the Directive Principles of the State Policy that are to be followed by the State to regulate the social changes. These principles are necessary so that the State does not fail to provide social justice to its people.
Law acts as a driving wheel for society to eliminate all forms of hurdles by bringing legislation and statutes that will help make a difference in the present and the future society. While we applaud the panchayats in Goa, Maharashtra and elsewhere in the country for the series of resolutions passed and hail those who would follow suit in advance, we urge the Goa government to act in line with the Maharashtra govt to direct all panchayats in the state to adopt such revolutionary resolutions, even as the government will need to bring about a law to ensure dignity to widows, thereby paving way for elimination of discriminatory, de-humanising practices, once for all.
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