'Widowhood Is A Curse'

'Widowhood Is A Curse'
VRINDAVAN, INDIA - JUNE 13: A woman poses for a portrait inside an ashram shelter for widows on June 13, 2013 in Vrindavan, India. Sulabh International launched a monthly pension scheme in Vrindavan a few months ago giving every widow Rs 2,000 per month and taking care of their health requirements. The area has become host to widows from all over India, the bulk of them from Bengal. The widows are shunned from society when their husbands die, not for religious reasons, but because of tradition, and because they're seen as a financial drain on their families, they pass their days in abject poverty, begging in the streets or outside temples. (Photo by Nicky Loh/Getty Images)
VRINDAVAN, INDIA - JUNE 13: A woman poses for a portrait inside an ashram shelter for widows on June 13, 2013 in Vrindavan, India. Sulabh International launched a monthly pension scheme in Vrindavan a few months ago giving every widow Rs 2,000 per month and taking care of their health requirements. The area has become host to widows from all over India, the bulk of them from Bengal. The widows are shunned from society when their husbands die, not for religious reasons, but because of tradition, and because they're seen as a financial drain on their families, they pass their days in abject poverty, begging in the streets or outside temples. (Photo by Nicky Loh/Getty Images)

Common in Hindu culture, widow abandonment forces thousands of widows to migrate each year to the holy cities of Varanasi and Vrindavan in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Two-thirds of widows earn less than 60 cents per day. New programs aim to provide widows with protection and financial support.

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