15/03/2017
Orphans and destitute widows pose a huge moral challenge to the people in Kashmir. The society has responded through personal and private institutional efforts but the gap between the needs of the unfortunate among us and what has been done so far is still a yawning one.
About 100,000 children in Jammu and Kashmir are estimated (by UNICEF) to be orphans. A poor fatherless child under the age of 18 falls in the category of an orphan. Most of the orphans here are a result of the ongoing conflict.
According to surveys by various government and private agencies, Kupwara district has the highest number of orphans at about 24,000 follwed by Anantnag and Budgam with 10,000 each.
In the 2007, a survey done by Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) found that in some parts of Kashmir, one in three Kashmiris had lost members of their extended families to the conflict and a similar number had contemplated su***de.
The rise in the number of orphans and widows led to the establishment and increase in the number of charitable centers which help the destitute of Kashmir.
There are more than 3,000 registered NGOs and many other unregistered ones which operate in Kashmir but nobody working for orphan children.
However, it is humanly not possible to cater to the entire population of the destitute in the state yet these institutions, some of them profiled here, are making ahuge effort in their own way to mitigate some kinds suffering.
However, it is humanly not possible to cater to the entire population of the destitute in the state yet these institutions, some of them profiled here, are making ahuge effort in their own way to mitigate some kinds suffering.
However, it is humanly not possible to cater to the entire population of the destitute in the state yet these institutions, some of them profiled here, are making a huge effort in their own way to mitigate some kinds suffering.