 statement of objects and reasonsthere are more than three crore widows in our country which is nearly three percent of our population more than fifty percent of these widows are in the age group of 60 years and above quite a good number of these widows are abandoned and they are languishing in the bhajan ashrams of various parts of the country particularly in mathura, vrindavan, varanasi etc and leading a miserable life most of the widows do not have means to support themselves and their dependent children and they are an exploited lot to survive they work as housemaids and do all sorts of works but many of them are unable to work as such as they are stricken with infirmity due to old age or physical deformity or serious and prolonged ailment and in many cases they are mentally deranged such hapless widows can be seen begging in the streets many young widows are forced into prostitution many widows are disowned by their in-laws and parents and are left to fend for themselves their position becomes more vulnerable if they have dependent children to support and who are also driven out of the homes with the widows the position of widows is more serious in semi urban and rural areas where they are treated as bad omen and are not allowed to participate in any auspicious function in the household since majority of them are illiterate they remain the worst exploited lot physically, mentally and socially our democracy is wedded to the ideals of a welfare state so it is the duty of the state to rehabilitate the needy and hapless widows and prepare and implement welfare measures for them it is, therefore, proposed that an independent authority be created to exclusively look after the welfare of hapless and needy widows so that they are not forced into begging or prostitution and they lead a respectable life in the society hence this bill solipeta ramachandra reddy financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for the establishment of a central widows welfare authority clause 5 provides for the officers and employees of the authority clause6 provides for the funds to be provided by central government clause 9 provides for the subsistence allowance and other facilities the bill if enacted and brought into force will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees one hundred fifty crores may be involved as recurring expenditure per annum a sum of rupee one hundred crores may also be involved as non-recurring expenditure memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 14 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill the rules will relate to matters of details only the delegation of legislative power is of normal character