Haryana’s Chief Minister to be the Chief Guest at The Loomba Foundation’s Charity Concert for Widows in Association with FICCI in New Delhi

Renowned Punjabi singer, Gurdas Maan will perform at the concert at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi on November 5, 2016

Hon’ble Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Manohar Lal, will be the Chief Guest at a charity concert being organized by The Loomba Foundation, a global NGO accredited with the United Nations under DPI and ECOSOC, to raise funds for empowering 1000 widows and female inmates of all 19 district prisons in Haryana. The event is supported by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and will take place on November 5, 2016 at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. Well-known Punjabi singer and songwriter, Gurdas Maan, will be the star performer at the concert accompanied by many other artists.

UK’s former First Lady and The Loomba Foundation’s President Mrs. Cherie Blair CBE QC together with Founder and Chairman Trustee Lord Raj Loomba CBE and his wife, Lady Veena Loomba will travel from London to attend the concert. Over 1500 people are expected to attend the music event, including senior politicians, diplomats, dignitaries, business leaders and 200 other distinguished guests.

Charity Concert Chairman, a Trustee of The Loomba Foundation, and Chairman of Bristol Hotel, Shri Balbir Singh Kakar, said, “We are grateful to our Chief Guest Shri Manohar Lal ji, singer Gurdas Maan ji, other performers and the dignitaries for helping create awareness on the cause of widows through this charity concert. I urge each one of you to generously donate to The Loomba Foundation which provides skills training to empower widows and education scholarships to their children.”

Founder & Chairman Trustee, Lord Loomba CBE said, “The Loomba Foundation has been empowering several thousands of widows across India and has provided educational scholarships to more than 10,000 children of poor widows. However, there are more than 46.5 million widows in India alone. We request the Central and state governments to play a larger role in eradicating the stigma related to widowhood and help us in improving the lives of the marginalized and impoverished widows. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already set an example by launching The Loomba Foundation’s project of empowering 5,000 widows in Varanasi earlier this year.”

The Loomba Foundation works for the welfare of widows in India. It is assisting over 15,000 impoverished widows in nine states. Since almost two decades, it has also provided five-year-long education scholarships to more than 10,000 children of poor widows and supported more than 60,000 of their family members across 29 states in India. Currently, it is educating about 1600 children of poor widows in 13 states of India including Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttarakhand.

 The Loomba Foundation was inspired by Lord Loomba’s late mother, Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba who became a widow at an early age of 37 and succeeded in educating her seven children single-handedly in Punjab. The Foundation successfully campaigned for the declaration of International Widows’ Day by the United Nations, which takes place on 23rd June every year around the world.

 About The Loomba Foundation 

The Loomba Foundation collaborates with UN bodies, other NGOs, government officials, Human Rights advocates and prominent leaders to fight for the over 259 million widows worldwide who suffer prejudice and discrimination. The Foundation seeks to bring about gender sensitive reforms of national laws and policies, eradicating anti-widow superstitions, traditions, and social practices.  It fosters gender equality and women’s empowerment by implementing poverty-reduction strategies and educational opportunities for widow’s and their children.