How many war widows in India?

[goodboy_mentor]

Was reading a news item related to One Rank One Pension protests, it says "over six lakh war widows stand to be the immediate beneficiaries of the scheme". The question that comes to mind is how come six hundred thousand war widows are there? Are these the widows of soldiers who died in World wars I and II included or only from wars/ insurgencies being fought after 1947? The world wars took place long time ago, hardly a fraction of widows from that period would be alive. Internet search tells that around sixty to seventy thousand soldiers from India died in World War I. And around eighty seven thousand died in World War II.

Adding up the number of casualties from the two World Wars comes to roughly around one hundred sixty thousand. If this is the case then around four hundred forty thousand soldiers of Indian Army must have died fighting wars/ insurgencies after 1947. Does this figure tally with the official figures of government regarding death of soldiers having died fighting wars/ insurgencies after 1947? Or something is missing or incorrect?

[aadhaulya]

GBM, I think the OROP is for all retired personnel including their widows (war widows or not). As most of the people protesting are retired personnel and not representatives of war widows only.

Atul

[goodboy_mentor]

Yes most probably a mistake by the journalist trying to sensationalize.