Single, yes but not alone

Winner of "WOMEN TRANSFORMING INDIA AWARD 2016" by Niti Ayog, Govt of India

"Nirmal's life in the remote Sarkaghat village of Himachal Pradesh changed dramatically when she was windowed at 23 years of age, just two years after her marriage.  Her saving grace was that she was matriculate.  A year later she broke the taboos surrounding her widowhood and escaped to work independently with an NGO, Social Uplift Through Rural Action (SUTRA) Jagjitnagar in Soan District.

She did not envisage that this would be her first step towards the empowerment of single women, especially poor, jobless widows, divorcees, and deserted women - women who are often cursed, harassed and abandoned by the traditional hill society.  She shared the distress of the single and widowed women she encountered - the denial of rights, the exclusion from inheritance, the inability to fight or push themselves out of their circumstances.  Essentially, the common denominator was they had no voice.  Himachal has around 300,000 single women, most of them widows.

In 2005, motivated by a meeting in Rajasthan, Nirmal formed the Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan (ENSS) in Himachal Pradesh with the support from SUTRA.

From the initial 120 women, ENSS has now grown to 17,000 members and covers 7 districts of the state.  In 2008, Nirmal led a 45 km march of 3538 rural windows, divorcees and deserted women, some of them in their 70s and 80s, to the state headquarters in Shimla.  This effort shook the system and instilled confidence in the women to fight for their rights and dignity.  For the first time, the political leadership recognized them in the policy matters, incorporated them as an entity in budget schemes of the state, instituted schemes to provide financial help to single mothers for their children and gave them preference in certain jobs. 

Courtesy - "CELEBRATING WOMEN CHANGE MAKERS IN INDIA - WOMEN TRANSFORMING INDIA AWARDS 2016" - Niti Ayog, in partnership with Govt of India and United Nations. 

EMPOWERING GRASSROOTS

Reflecting on the power of proximate leadership

|Rebuild India Fund|dasra|

President | National Forum for Single Women's Right|

STRENGTH OF A SINGLE WOMAN

India Today 44th Anniversary Edition

Issue Date: December 30, 2019