Here's Why We Think Raising Grant For Widow Remarriage Is WRONG!

Saturday, May 14 2016, 04:04:50

Komal Panwar

Blogger

Here’s Why We Think Raising Grant For Widow Remarriage Is WRONG!

JWB Post

March 10, 2016

The Rajasthan budget for 2016-17 was released few days ago. Keeping welfare of women in mind, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje announced two schemes for the girl child – Mukhyamantri Rajshri Yojana and Mukhyamantri Saksham Balika Yojana in her budget speech.

While the Mukhyamantri Rajshri Yojana will take care of the education of all girls born post June 1 by granting scholarships, the Mukhyamantri Saksham Balika Yojana will concentrate on training 1.5 lakh school girls in self-defence.

Well, great. Happy to hear that, and all. I think we should all be proud of the decision, but there’s something else that caught my attention. The Govt. has raised the one-time grant for remarriage of a widow from Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 30,000.

It’s plausible that the Rajasthan Govt. is setting aside all that money for the remarriage of a widow, in a way, to kill the taboo of widow remarriage.

However, JWB raises a question.

What if we’d invest the same money, if not lesser, in empowering her to stand on her own two feet? Let’s see how that would improve the scenario for her.

“Cook a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day, teach him how to catch it and he’ll eat for the rest of his life.”

Does the Universal quote ring a bell? Get her trained in stitching clothes, teach her embroidery, and she’ll maybe start her own tailor shop, feed her kids, her family, maybe even her parents. She could do all of that or with the help of this scheme, she can only get married to another man and continue to live the life of a dependent woman.

Of course, we all need partners in our lives, but what’s the sense of it if it is done because there’s a certain ‘cash prize’ on remarriage? Is that the kind of conditioning we want to fit into the heads of people?

Because money makes everything easier? Because money is more important than having ethical perspectives?

Who is to say that once she’s married (maybe in greed of the received money) the husband tortures her? And, who is to say, she’s stuck with that for the rest of her life. Don’t you think it instigates dowry but very subtly?

While I’m not trying to infect the women empowerment decisions of the Govt., my proposition makes some valid points.

What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.