The Cultures, Traditions and Events Of South Asia

Culture of Asia
The culture of Asia
Is human civilization in Asia. It features different kinds of cultural heritage of many nationalities,
societies, and ethnic groups in the region, traditionally called a continent from a Western-
centric perspective, of Asia. The region or "continent" is more commonly divided into more
natural geographic and cultural sub regions, including the Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia(the
"Indian subcontinent"), North Asia, West Asia andS outheast Asia. Geographically, Asia is not a
distinct continent; culturally, there has been little unity or common history for many of the
cultures and peoples of Asia. Asian art, music, and cuisine, as well asliterature, are important
parts of Asian culture.Eastern philosophy and religion also plays a major role,
withHinduism,Taoism, Confucianism,Buddhism, ChristianityandIslam; all playing major roles.
One of the most complex parts of Asian culture is the relationship between traditional cultures
and theWestern world.The South Asian culture is a mixed bowl of a number of different
influencing societies, nationalities, ethnictraditions and cultural heritages. The sub-continent is
a pot pourrie from the Western-centric perspective and is commonlydivided into natural
geographic and cultural regions. The region comprises North Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Central
Asia,South West Asia, South East Asia and the Caucasus. Interestingly, and adding to the enigma
of the region, Asia is not a distinctcontinent, geographically. It is distinctly home to
commonalities in culture and there has been little or no unity within thenatural
framework.South Asian culture comprises its art, cuisine, music, literature, philosophy, religions
and the complexrelationship between the common, traditional cultures. Home to Buddhism,
Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism andChristianity, South Asian culture is rich and varied.
The nations of South Asia share an ethnic background and most of theterritorial divisions have
come up only in the recent past. These similar cultures were basically separated due to
varyingreligious compositions. The culture springs from the rich early Indus Valley Civilization
that saw the influx and mix of theAryan and Dravidian races. The populace component of South
Asia eventually mingled to form a unique common culture.The major exodus from the
northwest, near the borders of Afghanistan, saw a major influence on the religions of the sub
continent, with the arrival of Islam. Though, in the traditional South Asian culture most divisions
were based onreligion, the commonalities are seen in common interests in sports, shared
history, geographical conditions, occupations,lifestyles, food and dress. The temples and places
of worship are architectural marvels and completely rebuilt, in the same style,every few years.
The common material used in the building includes wood, thatch and stone.The South Asian
culture includes commonalities in celebrations and festivals. Dance is common to all the
culturecomponents as a form of announcing harvest, spring and the onset of winter. The
people of South Asian culture dance to the beat of a drum, even as they sing and dance. In
South Asia, dance is an integral part of the culture, with slight variations in style.There are
courtly dances, dances of celebration and dance dramas. The stories handed down the ages
also have a lot of similarity. They all talk of a a terrible flood or years spent to control a deluge
and help received from the heavens to ‘fix the
broken sky’!The South Asian culture is also home to a number of magical animals and plants,
like the extolled nekomatas or felines with two tails and magical powers, the Balinese child-
eating rangdas, the pishachas or haunters of the cremation groundsetc. Story-telling and
folklores are common to the cultures of the region and South Asia has given the world a
collection of fables. South Asia displays great linguistic diversity, the components being a
number of language families and isolates andregional dialects. Most of the South Asian
countries have more than one language natively spoken.South Asian philosophical traditions
cover a large spectrum of thoughts and writings. They include antithesis likeon one hand
propagating non-material pursuits, whereas on the other preach the enjoyment of material
world. The region ishome to the universally accepted and applied Gandhian principles of non-
violence and peaceful resistance. Interestingly,majority of people in the world who practice a
religious faith, practice one originally from South Asia. The region celebrates avariety of
festivals, which are also traditional holidays in many regions.In South Asia, rice is the staple
food. The region is not only a major consumer but the world’s granary of rice.The use of exotic
spices that grow on the land and extensive consumption of fish along the coastlines is another
commonfeature. Years of colonization and interactions with other cultures and nations, the
cuisine has also inherited flavors that aredistinctly Latin and American. These are incorporated
within the people's local blends.
South Asian Art and Culture
The artistic remains, consisting of sacred image as well as sensuous, often flamboyant figures of
women, emphasize theintermingling of the sacred and the secular in the art of India
The Indian subcontinent forms an inverted triangle extending from the snow-bound Himalayan
ranges of Asiatoward the equator. Known also as South Asia, the area includes the countries of
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal,and Bhutan; artistically, the Tibetan highlands also
form part of the region. Stretching some 1,800 miles from north to south,and almost the same
distance from west to east, the area is home to an ancient and diverse group of cultures.India is
the largest single nation of South Asia. Its currently twenty-four states exhibit a cultural
diversitycomparable to that seen among the nations of Europe. The Tamil region of South India
has a language, script,musical tradition,dance forms, and an artistic heritage that are quite
distinct from those found in, say, Punjab in the north. It is this diversity thatmakes the artistic
traditions of India so complex and rewarding to follow.During the third millenniumB.C.,
spacious cities, displaying advanced town planning, were built along the plainsof the Indus
River. The settlers of these ancient communities traded with the contemporary civilizations of
Mesopotamia andused an elegant form of pictorial writing that is yet to be deciphered. Steatite
seals, delicately carved with figures of animals andoccasionally of humans, testify to their
creators' artistic sensibilities. The great cities of the Indus Valley flourished for morethan a
thousand years.Between 1800 and 1200B.C., a steady trickle of Indo-European peoples who
called themselves Aryans(Sanskrit
arya
means "noble") entered the Indian subcontinent. They brought with them a group of sacred
hymns known as theVedas ("knowledge"), composed in the ancient Sanskrit language. The
Vedic hymns praise an entire group of deities to whomthe Aryans offered homage. Several are
personifications of the powerful forces of nature, such as Indra, the god of thunder andrain and
the patron deity of war; the solar deity Surya; and Agni, the god of fire. The religion known
today asHinduismhas itsroots in these ancient texts. Hinduism is a religion without a single
founder, a single spokesman, or indeed a single set of fixedtenets. It evolved and changed over
the years as the once-nomadic Aryans spread across the subcontinent, took to settled life,and
as they mingled with the local populations, adopted several of their beliefs and customs.In
keeping with its Vedic origins, Hinduism remains a polytheistic faith that admits the power of a
number of deities. The three most popular deities of present-day Hinduism, which draws
directly on later texts known as the Puranas(composed early in the present era), are the god
Shiva, the god Vishnu, and the goddess Shakti (literally, "Power"). Hindusgenerally address their
worship to one or another of the three and are accordingly known as Shaivas, Vaishnavas, or
Shaktas.Temples were built to enshrine the image of the chosen deity, and the exterior walls of
these temples were covered withnumerous sculpted images and masses of decorative carvings.
Relief carvings from the myths of the enshrined deity played animportant role in glorifying the
god whose various manifestations found a place in the niches on the temple walls. In
addition,sculptors carved a variety of auspicious motifs that included overflowing foliage,
figures of women, and images of embracingcouples, all of which suggested growth, abundance,
and prosperity.Side by side with the flowering of the plastic arts, philosophy and literature, as
well as music and dance,flourished in the Hindu context. India's best-known philosophical
system, Vedanta, associated with the philosopher Shankara, proposed a monistic belief in the
identity of the human soul with the divine principle. A rich body of secular literature,
including poems and dramas, fables and epics, was written first in Sanskrit and later in a
number of regional languages, from southernTamil to northern Kashmiri, from western Gujarati
to eastern Bengali. Music and dance played an important part in the religiousand secular life of
the subcontinent. Hindu religion, culture, and art spread overseas into several parts of
Southeast Asia, wherethe two great epics of India, the

Ramayana
and the
Mahabharata
, continue to play an important theatrical role.India is the birthplace of two other major
religions that arose during the sixth and fifth centuriesB.C.OnewasBuddhism,a faith
propounded by Prince Siddhartha, who achieved enlightenment and became known
astheBuddha(literally, "Enlightened One"). The Buddha's path to nirvana (Buddhist salvation)
was a path of moderation that wasopen to all. It denied the caste system of the Hindus and
emphasized an upright, moral life. Buddhism gained rapid popularitywithin India and, at an
early date, spread along the Silk Road into China, Korea, and Japan, where it became a major
force. Thecountries of Southeast Asia, too, imbibed the Buddha's teachings. Buddhists
especially revere the founder of their faith, whowas deified and adored as a god. In early times,
his mortal remains (in the form of ashes following cremation) were interredwithin relic mounds
known as stupas. Relief sculptures narrating the life of the Buddha were used to decorate such
stupamounds. The range of auspicious motifs used in a Hindu context-foliage, women, couples-
also formed part of the decorativescheme of the stupa. Buddhas later built richly decorated
temples to enshrine an image of the Buddha.The other major religion that arose in the sixth
centuryB.C.is traditionally accepted as having been founded byMahavira, an elder
contemporary of the Buddha. Once he had attained enlightenment, he was known as Jina, or
"Victor," andthe path he propounded is known as Jainism. Although similar in many ways to the
path of the Buddha, Jainism places greater emphasis on austerity and asceticism, which are
upheld as ideals. The faith did not spread beyond India, but it holds animportant place within
the subcontinent. Jain temples, which enshrine an image of one of the twenty-four
jinas
, are similar inmany ways to those built to honor Hindu gods; only the narrative themes and the
identity of the sacred images are different.India is home to other religions as well,
includingIslam, a monotheistic faith. Northwestern India was first penetrated by Muslim armies
in the early eighth centuryA.D., although Islam did not establish a firm foothold there until
theeleventh century. The last of the world religions to arise in the subcontinent is Sikhism,
which, in certain respects, attempted to bridge the gulf between Hinduism and Islam.The
greater proportion of the art in stone that has survived was used to decorate sacred structures.
Secular monuments certainly existed, and monarchs and nobles built themselves imposing
palaces and mansions. It would appear,however, that such structures were made in the
perishable medium of brick and wood and decorated with terracotta and woodsculptures. In
the hot and humid climate of much of India, these ancient secular monuments have perished. It
is only after Islamcame to India that secular monuments began to be constructed of stone. Thus
it is that the majority of the works of art seen inthe South Asian galleries of the Metropolitan
Museum, most of them of stone, come from a religious context. The artisticremains, consisting
of sacred image as well as sensuous, often flamboyant figures of women, emphasize the
intermingling of thesacred and the secular in the art of India.
Traditions South Asia
Islamic Traditions in South Asia
Muslims practice a series of life-cycle rituals that differ from those of Hindus, Jains, or Buddhists.
The newborn baby has the call to prayer whispered into the left ear, the profession of faith
whispered into theright ear, honey or date paste placed in the mouth, and a name selected. On
the sixth day after birth, the first bath occurs. On theseventh day or a multiple of the seventh,
the head is shaved, and alms are distributed, ideally in silver weighing as much as thehair; a
sacrifice of animals imitates the sheep sacrificed instead of Ishmael (Ismail) in biblical times.
Religious instruction startsat age four years, four months, and four days, beginning with the
standard phrase: "In the name of God, the Beneficent, theMerciful."Male circumcision takes
place between the ages of seven and twelve. Marriage requires a payment by thehusband to
the wife and the solemnization of a marital contract in a social gathering. Marriage ceremonies
include the donningof a nose ring by the bride, or in South India a wedding necklace, and the
procession of the bridegroom. In a traditionalwedding, males and females attend ceremonies in
different rooms, in keeping with the segregation of sexes in most socialsettings. After death the
family members wash and enshroud the body, after which it is buried as prayers from the
Quran arerecited. On the third day, friends and relatives come to console the bereaved, read
the Quran, and pray for the soul of thedeceased. The family observe a mourning period of up to
forty days.The annual festivals of Islam are based on a lunar calendar of 354 days, which makes
the Islamic holy year independent of the Gregorian calendar. Muslim festivals make a complete
circuit of the solar year every thirty-three years.The beginning of the Islamic calendar is the
month of Muharram, the tenth day of which is Ashura, theanniversary of the death of Husayn,
the son of Ali. Ashura, a major holiday, is of supreme importance for the Shia. Devoteesengage
in ritualized mourning that may include processions of colorful replicas of Husayn's tomb at
Karbala and standards with palms on top, which are carried by barefoot mourners and buried at
an imitation Karbala.In many areas of India, these parades provide a dramatic spectacle that
draws large numbers of non-Muslimonlookers. Demonstrations of grief may include bouts of
self-flagellation that can draw blood and may take place in publicstreets, although many
families retain personal mourning houses.Sunni Muslims may also commemorate Husayn's
death but in a less demonstrative manner, concentrating insteadon the redemptive aspect of
his martyrdom.The last day of Ramazan is Id al Fitr (Feast of Breaking the Fast), another
national holiday, which ends themonth of fasting with almsgiving, services in mosques, and
visits to friends and neighbors.Bakr Id, or Id al Zuha (Feast of Sacrifice), begins on the tenth day
of the Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah and is amajor holiday. Prescribed in the Quran, Id al Zuha
commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice Ishmael (rather than Ishaq--Isaac--as in the
Judeo-Christian tradition) according to God's command, but it is also the high point of the
pilgrim's ritual cyclewhile on the hajj in Mecca. All of these festivals involve large feasts, gifts
given to family and neighbors, and the distribution of food for charitable purposes.

A significant aspect of Islam in India is the importance of shrines attached to the memory of
great Sufi saints. Sufism is amystical path (
tariqat
) as distinct from the path of the sharia. A Sufi attains a direct vision of oneness with God, often
on theedges of orthodox behavior, and can thus become a
pir
(living saint) who may take on disciples (
murids
) and set up a spirituallineage that can last for generations.Orders of Sufis became important in
India during the thirteenth century following the ministry of MuinuddinChishti (1142-1236),
who settled in Ajmer, Rajasthan, and attracted large numbers of converts to Islam because of
his holiness.His Chishtiyya order went on to become the most influential Sufi lineage in India,
although other orders from Central Asia andSouthwest Asia also reached to India and played a
large role in the spread of Islam. Many Sufis were well known for weavingmusic, dance,
intoxicants, and local folktales into their songs and lectures. In this way, they created a large
literature in regionallanguages that embedded Islamic culture deeply into older South Asian
traditions.In the case of many great teachers, the memory of their holiness has been so intense
that they are still viewed asactive intercessors with God, and their tombs have become the site
of rites and prayers by disciples and lay people alike.Tales of miraculous deeds associated with
the tombs of great saints have attracted large numbers of pilgrimsattempting to gain cures for
physical maladies or solutions to personal problems. The tomb of the
pir
thus becomesa
dargah
(gateway) to God and the focus for a wide range of rituals, such as daily washing and decoration
by professionalattendants, touching or kissing the tomb or contact with the water that has
washed it, hanging petitions on the walls of the shrinesurrounding the tomb, lighting incense,
and giving money.The descendants of the original
 pir
are sometimes seen as inheritors of his spiritual energy, and, as
pirs
in their own right, they might dispense amulets sanctified by contact with them or with the
tomb. The annual celebration of the
pir
'sdeath is a major event at important shrines, attracting hundreds of thousands of devotees for
celebrations that may last for days.Free communal kitchens and distribution of sweets are also
big attractions of these festivals, at which Muslim fakirs, or wandering ascetics, sometimes
appear and where public demonstrations of self-mortification, such as miraculous piercing of
the body and spiritual possession of devotees, sometimes occur.Every region of India can boast
of at least one major Sufi shrine that attracts expressive devotion, which remainsimportant,
especially for Muslim women.The leadership of the Muslim community has pursued various
directions in the evolution of Indian Islam duringthe twentieth century. The most conservative
wing has typically rested on the education system provided by the hundreds of religious
training institutes (
madrasa
) throughout the country, which have tended to stress the study of the Quran and Islamictexts
in Arabic and Persian, and have focused little on modern managerial and technical skills (see
Education and Society, ch).Several national movements have emerged from this sector of the
Muslim community. The Jamaati Islami(Islamic Party), founded in 1941, advocates the
establishment of an overtly Islamic government through peaceful, democratic,and
nonmissionary activities. It had about 3,000 active members and 40,000 sympathizers in the
mid-1980s. The TablighiJamaat (Outreach Society) became active after the 1940s as a
movement, primarily among the ulama, stressing personalrenewal, prayer, a missionary and
cooperative spirit, and attention to orthodoxy. It has been highly critical of the kind of activities
that occur in and around Sufi shrines and remains a minor if respected force in the training of
the ulama. Other ulamahave upheld the legitimacy of mass religion, including exaltation of
pirs
and the memory of the Prophet.A powerful secularizing drive led to the founding of Aligarh
Muslim University (founded in 1875 as theMuhammadan Anglo-Oriental College)--with its
modern curriculum--and other major Muslim universities. This educationaldrive has remained
the most dominant force in guiding the Muslim community.
South AsianTraditions and Cultures: Hybridity or Modernization?
The history of South Asian tradition extends to well before Christianity, empirically quantifying
the Indus ValleyCivilization as the herald of the formation of an indigenous method of cultural
development. Two thousand years later, SouthAsian cultures still stand out among those of
different civilizations. The era of globalization and mass communication haveraised many
questions as to whether these cultures will defy hybridity and remain independent, or even
whether they willwithstand the increasingly adamant hegemony of modernization. In South
Asian society, modernization has in fact generated a bifurcation between those who still
fervently subscribe to indigenous culture and tradition, and those who find more comfort ina
form of hybrid existence with modernity. This bifurcation can also be quantified along the lines
of urban-rural divides and the politics of centre-periphery. Even so, this cultural hybridity is
seen to strain greatly under the pressure of a moral imperative to prioritize one’s own culture
over another’s. The circumstances which therefore render cultural hybridity ineffective in
SouthAsia are instances where indigenous traditions do not allow any amendment or
contemporaneous adaptation.South Asian cultures still ascribe populously, if not popularly, to
the traditions of arranged marriage and gender segregation. The societal structure of the South
Asian family in general is still as such, and minor anomalous phenomenon,specifically in
urbanized areas, do not qualify as a credible ascension towards societal rationality and
modernized hybridity.Rural areas in South Asia, which are plentiful in proportion to urban
areas, still have a majority of families where parents havean ultimate say regarding their
children’s marriage, and where the male members of the family eat in separate quarters from
thefemale members. Therefore, we must restrict our analysis to urban areas so that we may
understand how hybridity interacts withindigenous culture and tradition. The important
allusion above is necessary to understand how important education and socialexposure are
when rationalized cultural hybridity is concerned.Let us consider again, after restricting
ourselves to an urban analysis, the example of arranged marriages andgender segregation. In
any given family that resides in one of South Asia’s urban centers, the male and female
members of afamily normally eat meals together and do not have separate quarters for male
and female members. However, when oneconsiders a larger gathering, mostly of relatives, it
might be that the male and female members eat separately. It is common towitness such
activity at marriages and funerals or where sacred religious festivals require so. As far as
arranged marriages areconcerned, the phenomenon of parents deciding their children’s life
partner is still registered with convincing quantities.Dhooleka Raj’s own examples show that
even in modern societies, South Asian families/individuals do persist with certaintraditions
while allowing for modernity to function as they see fit, and this constitutes the core hybridity
of South Asiantradition.Circumstances that destroy this hybridity concern those traditions that
persist beyond one’s willingness or capability to allow any deviation from the set and inherited
tradition. Religious traditions warrant a greater incapability for hybridity to function, because of
the sheer degree of association that still persists with South Asian practices as compared
togeneral religious affinity in other societies. It is not impertinent to state that even urban
middle classes are “rejecting certaintypes of global political forces”. It is a circumstance where
indigenous culture itself rules out any format of hybridity.However, other traditions such as
festivals and celebrations clearly separate South Asian civilization from other cultures. The
persistence of this specific nature of cultures cannot be normatively denied at any cost, and the
concepts of modernity and hybridity respect the celebration of cultural diversity in such a
manner. Cultural hybridity does not break down insuch circumstances. It reflects the degree of
cultural harmony in South Asia with other cultures, and since our consideration islimited to
urban centers, we see that festivals such as ‘Valentine’s Day’ and ‘May Day’ are also celebrated
along with ‘Basant’and ‘Diwali.’Therefore, we see that cultural hybridization is a prevalent
phenomenon in urban South Asia and is characterized bythe increased feasibility of modernity
and an inherent nature of indigenous tradition pertaining specifically to hybridity. SouthAsian
culture itself affords degrees of adaptability and hybridity with different cultures under
different circumstances for
different people. As far as economic modernity and the communication of business and lifestyle
cultures, South Asian cultureshave displayed a greater degree of adaptability because they
adapt as well as emit cultural models

and have credited importancein the global economy. India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and
Pakistan have experienced greater cultural diversity in recenthistory; having undergone
‘McDonaldization’ and ‘MTV-pop culture’ according to different degrees of adaptability.This
degree becomes limited when religious cultures are concerned, because these traditions
require the subject’scomplete conformity, and henceforth rule out any variation or hybridity. In
these circumstances, it is questionable whether conformity to indigenous belief and culture
must precede the application of a modernized and hybrid culture, or vice versa. For instance,
the regular week in Pakistan is arranged to allow for the Friday congregational prayer, which is
compulsory as per Islamic tradition, and all formal and informal businesses are directed to
either close down at noon, or halt operations till 2P.Mand then recommence. Similarly, South
Asia’s contributions to the global economy are halted for those days when regionalculture
requires respect; as on Ashura or Bikarami Samvat, or celebration; Eid or Holi. This highlights
the moral imperative inSouth Asian cultures to follow a certain tradition (in this circumstance,
religious and associative culture of Pakistan) in aspecific and exact format. The issue of whether
South Asia is prone to cultural adaptability is very subjective. One can always relate to theafter-
effects of colonization. The elite adopted the British grandeur style and it continued to trickle
down the multiplicity of classes. In South Asia cultural change or hybridity has always surged
through the elite class and cultural penetration of suchkind is significantly dependant upon the
influencing powers. Further on, as already mentioned that the penetration of thiscultural
hybridity is more in the urban zone than in the rural sphere, shows that globalization despite its
manipulative ability isstill limited to an extent. There are certain repellent factors such as
conservatism that exist in South Asian society which tend tolimit the effect of globalization.
Even though fundamentalist factions continue to retard advances, it remains an irrefutable
factthat South Asia has come of age and has begun its cultural renaissance, but hybridity
perhaps remains a complex subject of separation and synthesis.
South Asian Events in 2010
31 December, 2010, Kathmandu, Nepal:
The UNIFEM Programme Office in Nepal organized a press briefing at the
UNConference room on 31 December 2010 to announce the establishment of UN Women, the
UN Entity for Gender Equality andthe Empowerment of Women.36 media persons representing
various national dailies and media houses were present at the briefing. Ms.Sangeeta Thapa,
Programme Coordinator, UN Women in Nepal welcomed and briefed them on UN Women,
informing themthat this was the result of four different UN entities, DAW, INSTRAW, OSAGI and
UNIFEM being merged.Ms. Thapa highlighted the significance of UN Women as the lead driver
to accelerate progress in meeting theneeds of women and girls worldwide. Presenting a
background to how it came about, Ms. Thapa informed that it was a result of years of
negotiations between UN Member States, advocacy by the global women’s movement and by
the fact that it was a partof the UN Reform Agenda. 2 July and 14 September 2010 were, she
said, historical days for women. The former, because theGeneral Assembly announced the
creation of UN Women to step up progress on women’s rights; and the latter, because,
Ms.M i c h e l l e B a c h e l e t , f o r m e r P r e s i d e n t o f C h i l e w a s a p p o i n t e d E x e c u t i v e
D i r e c t o r a n d U n d e r S e c r e t a r y G e n e r a l o f t h e organization. Responding to a media
query, Ms. Thapa assured them that UNIFEM’s ongoing efforts for gender equality and
theempowerment of women would continue through UN Women.Ms. Sharu Joshi Shrestha,
Regional Programme Manager for Migration extended her appreciation to all partnersfor their
continued support and cooperation to UNIFEM. She mentioned the women’s movement, the
Government of Nepal,civil society, media and the UN Country Team. She reiterated that UN
Women in Nepal would continue to work closely with allconcerned stakeholders to address
diverse issues affecting the lives of women and girls. She said that she was confident that
UNWomen would continue to receive their encouragement, cooperation and support.
9th December, 2010, Kathmandu, Nepal:
UN Women in collaboration with the Nepalese Army, organized and
celebratedInternational Human Rights Day on 9th December 2010, on their
premises “Sahba Griha”. The Nepalese Army pledged to “never commit, condone or
remain silent about violence against women and girls”. Brigadier General Nirendra Prasad
Aryal,Director of the Human Rights Directorate, stated that the celebration of International
Human Rights Day focused on women’srights as human rights. He said that this was the first
time that the Nepalese Army had participated to support the campaign toend violence against
women. They symbolized this by putting on the white ribbon.UN Women expressed its
gratitude and appreciation to the Nepalese Army for their commitment to endingviolence
against women and for coming forward through a historic partnership for the implementation
of the SCRs 1325 and1820.Dr. Chandra Bhadra, the resource person for the day, made a
presentation on women’s rights, making linkageswith CEDAW, the Beijing Platform for Action,
UNSCR 1325 and 1820 and the White Ribbon Campaign. This was a significantformal beginning
of UN Women’s partnership with the Nepal Army.
29th November 2010, New Delhi:
The Report, “Dimensions of Deprivation” focusing on the poverty levels of the Widows
of Vrindavan by the Guild of Service, supported by UN Women was launched on
29th November 2010 by Mr. D.K Sikri,Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child
Development, Government of India. Present on dais with him were Dr. Mohini
Giri,Chairperson of the Guild of Service, Ms. Anne F. Stenhammer, Regional
Programme Director, UN Women South Asia, Ms. Madhubala Nath, Regional Policy
Advisor, UN Women South Asia, Ms. Meera Khanna of the Guild of Service and Ms. UshaRai,
Principal Investigator of the Report.To be successful, governmental policies and NGO
interventions need to be supported by solid evidence. In order to successfully lobby for
governmental re-thinking on policies, to review present pension schemes, to broaden the
deprivationindices, very firm factual information is necessary. Keeping this in mind, the Guild of
Service, supported by UN Women, did adeprivation Study of the widows of Vrindavan.
Why widowhood matters as a social problem in the developing world:
•
Many more women than men face the likelihood of being widowed for a significant portion of
their lives
•
Many women are widowed when they are young and remain widowed the rest of their lives
•
Most widows face customary rules, which restrict their options regarding residence,
inheritance, employment and socialinteractions
•
Many widows cannot depend on support from their in
-
laws, parents, brothers, or even daughters
•
Given that adult sons are the most reliable source of family support, young widows
are economically and socially morevulnerable on average than older widows
•
Every fourth household in India has a widow
•
The numbers are only increasing due to armed conflicts, natural disasters,
communal riots and the traditional marriage patterns
•
50% of the widows are over 50 years of age
•
In the age group of over 60+, 54% are widows
•
In the age group of over 70, 23% of men are widowers, while the corresponding figure for
women was 92%