BANGALORE: Engineering students of PES Institute of Technology (PESIT) are all set to bring the problems being faced by the widows of martyrs to the forefront.The students are organising a memorial service on March 16 to remember the men of the Armed Forces and the police who laid down their lives defending the nation and also highlight the condition of their families. Around 15 such families of martyrs will be present at the memorial service to share their experiences.“There are many war widows. Some like Venkatamma earn merely Rs 45 as pension even today. Her husband lost his life in the World War II and after three years, he was presumed dead. We visited many such families and realised that they are in a very bad condition. Some in urban areas have found ways to make a living, but many others in rural areas are not aware of the schemes that the government has introduced for families of martyrs. We want to educate them about this,” said Akshay Thakur, a student organiser at the college.The students do not want to make this a one-day event but will be forming an NGO in a few months, that would look at all such issues and try to get help for them, by being mediators between the families and the government. “We want to introduce a scholarship scheme for the kin of these martyrs. In this regard, our college, along with a few other major corporate companies will be putting together a scholarship scheme. We have also collected donation of over Rs 1 lakh from all our students and even the teachers have pledged to donate their one day salary,” said Sidharth Kumar, another student organiser.Major Ashok Sharma and IG&DGP Shankar Bidari will also attend the service.
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