British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie Blair honored Indian minister Renuka Chowdhury at a Diwali event at the United Nations on Friday.
Cherie, the president of the Loomba Trust that seeks to educate children of poor widows in India and other developing countries, bestowed honors on three individuals "whose extraordinary efforts have benefited women and children throughout the world or who are widows who have demonstrated tremendous courage in the face of their individual hardship."
Along with Union Minister of State Women & Child Development Chowdhury, Yoko Ono, Japanese-American musician and widow of John Lennon, and Rachel Mayanja, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, were honored.
Addressing the gathering of over 350 people at the Delegates Dining Room, Chowdhury spoke of the economic challenges and banishment from society that widows face. She informed the audience present of the work being done by the Government of India, pointing out that perhaps the single biggest step was taken by the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in bringing in a constitutional amendment providing 33 ½ per cent seats for women in grassroots governance.
"We also have a comprehensive policy initiative which cannot be reflected better than in Dr Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who has carved out this Ministry of Women & Child Development, and I have the honor of being the first minister to head this independent ministry," she said.
Chowdhury said India has a free and compulsory education policy for its children, an active nutrition program, and a large presence of the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and other such organisations.
Cherie Booth earlier pointed out that there are 100 million widows across the world, a third of them in India. "In Africa, 60 per cent of the widows have become widows because of pandemic HIV/AIDS," she said.
