A large number of Jharkhand’s single women undergoing agony in their lives have demanded their rights for livelihood from the State government for a secured future.
A recent survey conducted by an Non government organisation working for such women across the nation reveals that as many as nine lakhs single women of Jharkhand hail from ‘low income groups’.
“The list of such single women includes eight per cent widows, 1.5 per cent separated women, five per cent unmarried aged women, women whose husbands are lifelong prisoners and those belonging to reserved category classes like Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, minority and Other Backward Class. These women are considered as ‘societal burden’ and deprived of all legal rights making it difficult to meet both the ends of their life,” said Purvi Pal, secretary of Shramajiva Mahila Samity.
In India, the categorisation of these women was first time done in the Census 2011. Pal said that there are overall 12 lakhs single women in the State. She mentioned, “This excluded group have been deprived of justice since ancient times but now their pathetic condition of lives is being highlighted. They are sole earning members in their families so their dependents are vulnerable pertaining to shelter, food, health, diseases and other needs.”
According to members of this NGO and Jharkhand State Commission for Women the single women of the State are becoming victims of Witch Practice these days. “Cops deny to file complains of such victimised women since there is no physical proof of harassment in this evil practice. We are planning to file Right to Information on this ‘no’ habit of filing FIRs,” Pal added.
Noticing the present situation of such women, Shramajivi Mahila Samity with the support of Poorest Area Civil Society (PACS) is working for ‘single women empowerment through land, property campaign and health promotion’ in association with Ekal Nari Sashakti Sangathan for the last two years and claims to succeed in decreasing few of the vulnerability of above mentioned single women in around 27 blocks of eight districts comprising Bokaro, Dumka, Giridih, Gumla, lohardaga, Pakur, Palamau and West Singbhum.