hn_ANI_delhi_bjp_leader_smriti_irani_attends_22-29-24

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Transcript

00:00lumber without realizing you're going to come out having made a commitment. It was certainly the

00:06case for me back in 1998 when I went with my husband to the launch of the Lumber Foundation.

00:16I hadn't really understood the impact of widowhood on women around the world and particularly

00:26women here in India until I heard Raj's moving story about his own mother, Shrimiti Pushpa

00:37Wati Lumba, who at the very young age of 37 became a widow. A widow with seven children in

00:50a situation where she assured that not only the boys but the girls had that opportunity for

00:58education and to succeed and not just Raj but Raj in particular of course shows how far a determined

01:07mother can help her children succeed. And after her death Raj and Veena wanted to honor her legacy

01:16and that's why the Lumber Foundation is here today and over the next decade the foundation

01:23funded education for at least a hundred children in every state in India for a minimum of five

01:30years reflecting that power of education that his mother had given to him and which he wished

01:38in her memory to give to others. Now this had a resonance with me because I too come from a

01:45household not of a widow but as I think you put it from the CII from an estranged wife and so my

01:55own mother had a similar struggle to bring up her two daughters on her own and that's why I was

02:02delighted when I was asked to be patron of the foundation and later on I was elevated to the role

02:09of president. My aim was to ensure that we not only dealt with this issue as an issue in India

02:18but also that we understood that this was an issue worldwide. One of the pivotal moments came when in

02:282005 on June the 23rd Raj and I launched a campaign for International Widows Day.

02:37People thought this was ridiculously ambitious to get a UN day for widows. It was also symbolic

02:48because it was the anniversary of the day that Raj's own mother became a widow. Now it took us

02:57five years but we managed in the end to get the United Nations to adopt International Widows Day

03:07It took a lot of persuading of UN leaders, of government officials, of global advocates. It took

03:14help of so many friends and a number of first ladies across the world to say that the world

03:21had to recognize the systemic discrimination that women face worldwide. I'm happy to say that we got

03:29strong support from my government, our government Raj, the UK government and the Indian government

03:36including the high commissions in London and Delhi and we also commissioned research to explain to

03:42people that this just was not simply an Indian or an Asian issue but it was a worldwide issue.

03:49And finally December 2010 the UN General Assembly did declare June the 23rd as International

03:57Widows Day and the first celebration of that day was in 2011 when the then UN Secretary General

04:06Ban Ki-moon whose own mother-in-law was a widow stated all widows should be protected by the

04:14rights enshrined by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against

04:18Women and other international human rights treaty but in reality interpretations of customary codes

04:27as well as traditional mourning and burial rights often deny widows virtually all those rights.

04:34Since then International Widows Day has been a focus for raising awareness, inspiring legislative

04:40changes and fostering practical support for widows. So in 2022 just recently the General Assembly

04:51addressed the situation of widows. This was unimaginable back in 1997 when the idea that there

04:59were particular issues that were being raised by the UN General Assembly and by the UN General Assembly

05:07and by the UN General Assembly and by the UN General Assembly and by the UN General Assembly