The Hindu : Social welfare board's golden jubilee next month

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 27, 2003

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National

Social welfare board's golden jubilee next month

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI JULY 26. Constituted in 1953 to initiate and implement social welfare schemes, the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), fifty years down the line, is evolving packages for young women, widowed under unnatural circumstances.

These `special packages' are meant primarily for those widowed in terrorist attacks, Naxalite killings, caste feuds, communal riots, land-related murders or even natural disasters. ``This is the need of the hour, as the number of young widows is increasing,'' says the CSWB chairperson, Mridula Sinha.

The packages are to be implemented in villages that have more than 25 young widows and are aimed at providing them succour through socio-economic upliftment and awareness generation programmes.

The women are put through special counselling to prepare them for the future. Some other benefits given under the package are opening creche facilities for their children and aid in starting small industry to make them economically independent.

So far, the Board has sanctioned the package for five villages in Bihar, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. ``We are likely to cover more villages by reducing the number of beneficiaries in each village or including old women widowed under natural circumstances,'' Ms. Sinha told The Hindu.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, has written to the CSWB asking that some Naxalite-hit villages in his State be included under the scheme. Gujarat, too, is likely to be covered, as it saw a large number of deaths in the earthquake a few years ago and last year's communal riots.

Of the five villages identified so far, three are in Behat, Jahanabad and Ara districts of Bihar that have seen the worst forms of caste feuds in recent times. Two villages in Punjab and one in Jammu and Kashmir have witnessed several terrorist killings.

Keeping in mind the changing needs of the society, the CSWB has started `pre-marital counselling centres' across the country. An increasing tendency among women to consciously avoid marriage, either due to a lack of faith in the institution or because they preferred to concentrate on their careers, had necessitated counselling to avoid discords in the event of their getting married, Ms. Sinha points out. Incidentally, the CSWB is believed to be running the world's largest network of 500 family counselling centres, where 30 lakh disputes have been reported.

The Board has seen its role change over the years since it was founded by the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, with Durgabai Deshmukh as the first chairperson. The idea then was to promote the role of voluntary organisations in implementing social welfare programmes. As the CSWB celebrates 50 years next month, it sees itself adopting the role of a leader who gives directions, but leaves the implementation part to its followers — the voluntary groups and societies, in this case.

While most of its initial programmes have been revamped to suit the changing needs, some schemes like the `Condensed Course' — a literacy and vocational training programme for rural and backward women — continue till today.

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