Compensation as curse

A murder that reveals the Kargil widow's vulnerabilitySHIVKUMARI's short life was laced with tragedy. Not only was her husband, Ram Nohore...

A murder that reveals the Kargil widow’s vulnerability

SHIVKUMARI’s short life was laced with tragedy. Not only was her husband, Ram Nohore Yadav, killed in the Kargil conflict last June, the government’s monetary compensation for his death resulted in her own. According to a report carried in this newspaper, she was gunned down by assailants allegedly hired by her father-in-law, just after she had collected her husband’s pension from a bank in a UP village. While her father-in-law’s complicity in the murder has still not been established conclusively, the Rs 16 lakh compensation that was awarded to Shivkumari by the state and Central governments had caused a great deal of acrimony between the young woman and her husband’s family, to the extent that she was constrained to go back to her natal home. The father-in-law had done everything he could to lay his hands on the money, from trying to get her to keep it in a joint account to arguing in court that she was not his son’s wife.

The death of this woman could almost have been anticipated. It symbolises the real isolation and vulnerability of the Kargil widow, once the bugles and TV cameras have disappeared from the scene and public attention had drifted away to other issues. The sorrow over the death of a loved one is then quickly compounded by the cruelty, indifference and greed of relatives who have no real stake in the woman’s well-being or happiness and could, on the contrary, actually benefit from her death. When the Kargil hostilities broke out last May, the need for a just compensation to the families of soldiers killed or injured in action was immediately voiced by concerned individuals and the media. It was felt that the existing system of compensation did not adequately address contemporary needs. The government responded by announcing a package of welfare measures which, while it acknowledged the educational requirements of children and the support that dependent parents are entitled to, recognised the widow as the legalheir.

But promises made by governmental decree sometimes fail the reality test. Every once in a while, a complaint over land given as compensation turning out to be a stony, inaccessible strip, or over the non-allotment of a petrol pump, surfaced in one newspaper or the other, one TV channel or the other. But, clearly, what was the most common problem of all was the adverse effect of family politics that detracted from a just distribution of compensation money within the family. Invariably, the most powerful within the unit got to corner all the benefits, to the detriment of those who needed it the most. Shivkumari, having recognised this, chose to move out of her marital home but she still could not make good her escape. Her tragic story calls for closer monitoring on the part of the authorities, not just of the disbursal of such monies but the general welfare of the close relatives of dead or wounded soldiers. This is the very least that can be done for those who are called upon to lay down their lives for theircountry.

Debris found in Dal Lake could be from missile Pak fired during Op Sindoor

India53 min ago

Debris believed to be from a missile fired by Pakistan during Operation Sindoor in May has been found in Srinagar's Dal Lake. The debris has been handed over to the Air Force for further investigation. Sources say the target may have been a military installation in Srinagar, which is close to the lake. The make of the missile is yet to be determined.

View all shorts

Live Blog