Maneka Gandhi lays foundation to India's largest widow home in Vrindavan

Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has today laid the foundation stone to the country’s “largest” widow Home, which will have a capacity to house 1,000 women, in Vrindavan . The Ministry under the Swadhar and Short Stay Home Scheme caters to the primary needs of shelter, food, clothing, medical treatment and care of the women in distress who are without social and economic support.

It was observed that the condition of widows in existing Swadhar Home at Vrindavan was not satisfactory. Therefore, to provide better living conditions to a large number of widows at Vrindavan, the Ministry decided to construct a 1,000-bedded Home at Vrindavan with all the required facilities. A senior official in the ministry said,

The Foundation stone for the Home will be laid by the WCD Minister under the Swadhar Greh Scheme of the WCD Ministry.This will be the largest ever Home for widows established or funded by the government, a senior official in the ministry said.

The Home will be constructed on 1.424 hectare of land by National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) at an estimated cost of 57 Crores (including cost of the land), he said.

The design of the Home has been prepared in consultation with HelpAge India and is also ‘old age’ friendly. The Home will consist of ground plus three floors with the facilities of ramp, lifts, supply of adequate electricity, water and other amenities for meeting the requirement of senior citizens and persons with special challenges, he said.

The Home, fully funded by the central government, will be constructed at Sunrakh Bangar, Pargana Vrindavan. The broad mandate of the Ministry is to have holistic development of Women and Children. As a nodal Ministry for the advancement of women and children, the Ministry formulates plans, policies and programmes; enacts/ amends legislation, guides and coordinates the efforts of both governmental and non-governmental organisations working in the field of Women and Child Development.

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Besides, playing its nodal role, the Ministry implements certain innovative programmes for women and children. These programmes cover welfare and support services, training for employment and income generation, awareness generation and gender sensitization. These programmes play a supplementary and complementary role to the other general developmental programmes in the sectors of health, education, rural development etc. All these efforts are directed to ensure that women are empowered both economically and socially and thus become equal partners in national development along with men