Statewide Awareness Campaign Urged to Eradicate Widow Rituals – Women & Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare

Mumbai : Women and Child Development Minister Aditi Tatkare has called for a state-level awareness campaign to eliminate outdated and discriminatory widowhood practices. Speaking at a recent meeting at the Mantralaya, she emphasized the need to use modern communication tools at the taluka level to educate people and eradicate such customs entirely.

The awareness efforts are being carried out under the Mission Vatsalya scheme, but the Minister acknowledged that certain regressive rituals continue in parts of the state. She urged citizens to support the initiative to put a complete stop to these harmful practices.

The meeting was convened to review the implementation of a statewide resolution to end widowhood customs. Present at the meeting were Secretary Dr. Anup Kumar Yadav, Commissioner for Women and Child Development Nayana Gunde, Joint Secretary V. R. Thakur, and Joint Commissioner Rahul More.

Minister Tatkare asserted that widowed women have the same right to live with dignity as any other woman. Through Mission Vatsalya, the government is ensuring that widows can access the benefits of various welfare schemes while simultaneously raising public awareness.

However, practices such as removing the vermilion from a widow’s forehead, breaking her bangles, removing her mangalsutra and toe rings, and excluding her from religious and social events are still reported in some areas. These customs, she said, are a violation of human rights.

To combat these practices, village-level and ward-level committees have been established in rural and urban areas respectively. Minister Tatkare encouraged these committees to conduct widespread awareness programs and urged citizens to report any such incidents to the relevant taluka or village-level committees.

These committees include gram sevaks, ward officers, revenue officials, primary teachers, and anganwadi workers. There are currently 36,205 village-level committees and 4,909 ward-level committees across districts actively conducting awareness activities.

Minister Tatkare concluded by appealing to the public to support the movement for dignity, equality, and empowerment of widowed women in every community.