The Hindu
A country of women
- ANURADHA PANDE
- BHOOMIKA JOSHI
- Updated: October 6, 2013
The story of the Uttarakhand disaster’s female survivors is emerging as a tale of stark struggle in hostile terrain.
As the focus in Uttarakhand moves away from rescue operations and towards rehabilitation, the severity and finality of loss in the devbhoomi is becoming apparent. And the predicament of the women survivors is emerging gradually as a stark story of loss and suffering. Being a pilgrimage-tourism economy meant that most of the men had traditionally left for Badrinath, Hemkund, Kedarnath, Gaurikund and Rambara to ply their trade — the goods, ferry services, and seasonal lodges — when disaster struck. The loss of lives, therefore, was far higher among the men than the women who stayed behind.
Left behind in the villages are mostly the elderly, the women and the infants. A recent trip by members of the Uttarakhand Women’s Federation to the villages of Dungar-Semla, Kimara, Pathali, Painj, Karokhi, Sari and Usara near Ukhimath in the Kedar valley brought to fore the tragic numbers — the number of males dead outnumber the females by 98 per cent, with 305 males reported dead or missing. Nearly 91 per cent of the men who have died are under 50 years of age and more than 50 per cent of the deaths are of young males below the age of 25. The burden of care and labour now rests upon the surviving women.
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