A goodwill gesture for martyrs’ daughters

Ravinder Saini 

For the past 13 years, the Rezang La Shaurya Samiti in Rewari is extending financial aid to minor daughters of Army personnel, who had laid down their lives in the line of duty for the nation, to be utilised on their education and wedding. So far, the samiti has helped more than 200 minor daughters of the families of martyrs in various states. It launched the initiative taking inspiration from the Haryana Government’s decision to celebrate 2006 as ‘Girl Child Year’ in order to improve the deteriorating gender ratio by eradicating social evils such as female foeticide. 

“The samiti deposits Rs 5,000 in a post office saving scheme in the name of a minor girl of a martyr’s family. The amount can be utilised for her higher education and wedding after the scheme’s maturity period. The samiti has been extending monetary aid to the martyrs’ daughters for the past 13 years and we have so far approached the families of over 200 martyrs in Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana,” says advocate Naresh Chauhan, secretary of the samiti. 

Chauhan says that the daughters of Army personnel, who had attained martyrdom before the Kargil war, are on the priority list of the samiti, as before 1999 there was no government scheme to provide financial aid to the martyrs’ families. At present, there are 1,200 such families in Haryana with at least one member who had made the supreme sacrifice for the nation before 1999. The samiti is also financially assisting granddaughters of Army men who were martyred before 1999, he adds. 

“The samiti had launched this welfare programme on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2006, by giving monetary assistance to one minor daughter each of 29 martyrs of the Rezang La battle fought at a height of over 16,000 ft in Ladakh during the war with China on November 18, 1962. In all, 114 Indian soldiers had attained martyrdom in the battle and 62 of them were from Haryana (30 from the Rewari region alone),” he adds. 

Chauhan says that in 2015, the samiti had provided financial help to two minor girls of the fifth generation of two martyrs of First World War in 1919. The martyrs hailed from Garhi Bolni and Jonawas village in Rewari district. The samiti has also helped a minor girl of the family of Sepoy Hari Singh Chauhan (26) of 55 Rashtriya Rifles, who was martyred in an encounter with terrorists in Pulwama district of Kashmir recently.

“The samiti has also developed the Rezang La War Memorial on 1,000 acres in Rewari city and established a structure of ‘Sudarshan Chakra’ as a respect to the martyrs. The names of all Rezang La battle martyrs have been mentioned on stones along with the comments of some senior Army officers regarding the gallantry of Indian soldiers in the battle,” he adds.

Also, help being provided to granddaughters of martyrs

The samiti deposits Rs 5,000 in a post office saving scheme in the name of a minor girl of a martyr’s family. The daughters of Army personnel, who had attained martyrdom before the Kargil war, are on our priority list. The samiti is also financially assisting granddaughters of Army men who were martyred before 1999. — Naresh Chauhan, secretary of Rezang La Shaurya Samiti