The Campaign
MPSSM, created awareness programmes in almost all the districts of Maharashtra, met different stakeholders, met and interviewed more than 100 widow women. Many Gram Panchayats understood that this is a severe problem and passed a resolution in the Gram Sabha that all women will be treated equally be it a married woman or widow woman. The Gram Panchayats passed a resolution, that they will not allow any person in the village to practise any traditional rituals and give respect to the widow women. The first to do so were the villagers in Herwad Village, especially the women representatives, led by Herwad Sarpanch Rekha Jadhav. This stimulated other villagers also to pass such resolutions.
The campaign reached it peak when Rekha Jadhav and the Gram Sevak were invited to present their story during a three-day national workshop titled ‘Child and Women Friendly Gram Panchayat’, organised by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the government of Odisha in February in Bhubaneswar, newly-elected Herwad village sarpanch Rekha Jadhav presented the success story of her village in leading the widow reforms movement in Maharashtra.
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She was accompanied by the village development officer or gram sevak, Pallavi Kolekar, who was actively involved when in a historic move on 5 May 2022, the Herwad gram panchayat unanimously passed a resolution banning archaic widowhood customs such as removing mangalsutra and jodvi (toerings), wiping off her sindoor (vermillion) and breaking the bangles of the widow, and barring her from participating in social and auspicious activities.
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“It was a proud moment for me to represent my village at a national forum,” said Jadhav.
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At present, more than 7,000 villages in Maharashtra have pledged to ban widowhood practices. Among all districts, Kolhapur registered the maximum villages that have taken the initiative. Several villages in the neighbouring state of Goa and a few in Karnataka have also pledged to initiate these reforms.
In Goa, the campaign gained momentum when Sanguem taluka’s Uguem village took the lead. In North Goa, Pernem taluka’s Dhargal and Korgao panchayats became the first to adopt resolutions banning these malpractices and Morjim, Shiroda, Dharbandora, Sacorda and Kulem-Shigao followed suit.
