I was only 11-year-old when my mother, Smt Pushpa Wati Loomba, became a widow at the early age of 37, in Punjab in India in 1954. I saw the grief, loneliness, suffering and discrimination that my mother faced as a widow. Widows are treated badly in South Asia, Africa and other parts of the world. In some cases, they have to deal with murder, rape, prostitution, forced marriage, property theft, eviction and social isolation. There are estimated 285 million widows worldwide and of these 100 million live in poverty and 81 million have been abused physically, psychologically and even sexually.
My wife and I set up the Loomba Foundation in 1997 in memory of my late mother, who was my inspiration. The objectives and achievements of the Loomba Foundation during past 25 years are:
Educating Children
In 1999, the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, launched our project to educate children of poor widows in India. To date, we have educated over 10,000 children of poor widows in all the 30 states of India. Each beneficiary was given a monthly scholarship of Rs. 500 for a period of five years. This amount included school uniform, lunches, healthcare and sustenance amount for the mother.
Empowerment
Over 20,000 widows in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Malawi, Guatemala and Chile have benefited from the Loomba Foundation empowerment programmes, breaking the cycle of deprivation and transforming their prospects. We are honoured and privileged that our Varanasi project to empower 5,000 widows was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi in 2016.
Prosperity Project
The Loomba Foundation, in partnership with the US India Friendship Alliance, a charitable arm of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum, started a ‘Prosperity for Widows Project’ to empower 5.000 marginalised widows in in the state of Uttar Pradesh on January 1, 2023.
Lok Bharti Skilling Solutions will identify beneficiaries, and will prioritise those who have dependent children. It will also ensure the training is matched to industry needs in the state. The project, costing Rs 3.3 crore, will be completed on two years. Skills Training will be provided to 1,000 beneficiaries in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Amethi and Chandauli in each of the sectors of hospitality; tourism; apparel and tailoring; beauty and healthcare; and food processing.
The Loomba Foundation Empowerment Programme, in partnership with the US-India Friendship Alliance and supported by Blitz India, will empower 1,000 widows by providing them with skills training in a range of sectors including hospitality, tourism, tailoring, beauty & healthcare and food processing.
Promoting Human Rights
The Loomba Foundation, a UNaccredited NGO, launched International Widows Day in 2005, which takes place every year on June 23. After our tireless campaign, the United Nations adopted June 23 as International Widows Day at its 65th General Assembly in 2010.
Our success in persuading the United Nations to adopt International Widows Day on June 23 as a Global Day of Action to highlight this cause is a matter of great pride but also humility because we know how much remains to be done to eradicate this injustice from the world. It is a significant day as it was on this day that my mother became a widow in Punjab in India in 1954.
International Conference
A major International Widows Conference was held in the Locarno Suite at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on June 23, 2006. The purpose of the conference was to raise international awareness and provide individuals, corporations, governments and NGOs with a platform to address issues affecting widowhood, such as poverty and deprivation, social stigma, legal discrimination, and the impact of HIV/AIDS.
HRH the Prince of Wales was Patronin-Chief of the conference, which was chaired by Loomba Foundation President, Cherie Booth QC. Alastair Stewart acted as Master of Ceremonies and speakers included: Yoko Ono; the Rt Hon Baroness Amos; Baroness Jay of Paddington; H.E. the Rt Hon Donald McKinnon, Commonwealth SecretaryGeneral; Rt Hon Lord Dholakia, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords; Mrs Renuka Chowdhury, Hon Minister for Women and Child Development, Government of India; a number of speakers from overseas organisations dedicated to alleviating the suffering of widows and orphans in the developing world.
Bollywood Concert
The conference was followed by a live open-air Bollywood concert in Trafalgar Square, attended by 300 VIP guests and thousands of members of the public. Shekhar Suman hosted the afternoon’s entertainment. The line-up included performances by 4×4 Bhangra Group; Kashmira Shah; Sophia; Sunidhi Chauhan and Bhangra icon Jazzy B. Video messages from Hillary Clinton and Sir Richard Branson were broadcast during the concert and, as the finale, Cherie Booth QC released balloons to mark the International Widows Day.
All-round support critical
The support of the United Nations, the Royal Family, the Governments of the United Kingdom and India and many individuals including our President Lady Cherie Blair CBE QC, our Patron-inChief Sir Richard Branson, Yoko Ono, Dame Joanna Lumley OBE and many others throughout this period has been critical to what we have been able to achieve. The stories of young widows, enabled by the Loomba Foundation, establishing their own businesses and becoming successful, and of widows’ children completing their education at school and university and embark on good careers, are heart-warming.
