WAR WIDOWS IN INDIA – SOCIO ECONOMIC REVIEW

There are around 25,000 war widows in India. This was due to the wars fought during 1962, 1965, 1971 and 1999 with our neighbouring countries. Also, there have been battle casualties during peace time due to Militancy and Insurgency in our Border areas. This paper presents the current socio-economic status of the war widows in India, it brings out the various schemes, initiatives and welfare measures introduced by the Government/Defence Institutes and Civilian organizations to rehabilitate the war widows of this country. Over a period of time there appears to be a lot of improvements done in the welfare measures for the war widows and it appears that there is an improvement in the socio-economic status of war widows. While the officers’ cadre widows appear to be more educated, they are able to manage a job /find employment but the widows of the jawans/Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) have to struggle to manage their life in society. Most of these women belong to Rural areas and are from middle class families. This paper tries to evaluate the present socio-economic condition of war widows in the 21st century and also suggest recommendations based on analysis of secondary data.