PUNJAB : International Widows Day, observed every year on June 23, was recognised by the United Nations in 2010, but the campaign behind it began earlier with the efforts of entrepreneur and House of Lords Lord Raj Loomba. Today, the 83-year-old philanthropist from Punjab, who has been settled in the United Kingdom for more than five decades, is known as the “Pioneer of Widows” for his work supporting widows and their children worldwide.
The movement was inspired by a personal experience. In 1954, when Raj Loomba was ten years old, his father Jagiri Lal Loomba, a businessman in Punjab, died of tuberculosis on June 23. Significantly, this day became the International Widows Day. His mother was only 37 when he died. Loomba says the day after his father’s death, his grandmother ordered his mother to remove her bangles, jewellery and bindi, and to wear only white clothes. Her transformation into a widow left a lasting impression on him.
Years later, another incident strengthened his resolve. “When I got married to Veena Chaudhry from Ludhiana, we were enraged when the priest asked my mother to sit away from the altar because, as a widow, she would bring bad luck,” Lord Loomba said. “How could the mother who gave birth to me, educated me and wished me well bring bad luck?”
After his mother’s death, Lord Loomba and his wife founded the Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba Foundation in 1997 in her memory. The organisation, now known as The Loomba Foundation, was created to fight the injustices faced by widows and their children through education, empowerment and advocacy.
The Foundation has expanded to Scotland, the US, South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda and Canada. The foundation works to improve the lives of widows by lobbying governments, creating employment programmes and supporting the education of their children. According to the organisation, 25,333 widows and their children above 16 years of age have been empowered nationwide. Over 10,000 children receive monthly educational scholarships, while 11,630 foot-operated sewing machines have been distributed to widows nationwide.
On June 23, 2005, Lord Loomba launched International Widows Day to draw attention to the hardships faced by widows and their children. Five years later, on December 21, 2010, the United Nations adopted June 23 as International Widows Day during its 65th General Assembly. The first UN conference to mark the day was held at the organisation’s headquarters in New York on June 23, 2011, and was chaired by the wife of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Speaking about the condition of widows in India, Lord Loomba said millions continue to face poverty, discrimination and abuse. “When a woman loses her husband, she loses her status, wealth and right to inheritance,” he said. “There are around 46 million widows in India and 70 percent live in rural areas. Many are poor, uneducated and dependent on relatives who exploit them physically and psychologically.”
He believes education and skill development are the key to changing their lives. “Rural widows should be educated and trained to become members of society,” he said. Lord Loomba has also called on Gram Panchayats across India to establish Widows Help Centres in villages. He said, “No woman should be punished for outliving her husband.”
Over the years, the foundation has expanded its projects across India. Last year, it launched a programme in Vrindavan to train 1,000 widows as General Duty Assistants in healthcare. On September 30, 2025, the foundation and CII Foundation launched the healthcare training initiative in Mathura. “Our project to empower 5,000 widows in Varanasi was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Lord Loomba said. “We are educating more than 10,000 children of poor widows across all 30 states of the country.”
Over 3,000 widows have been supported in UP, West Bengal and the northeastern states with help from Lions Club International Foundation. In partnership with Rotary India Literacy Mission, another 4,000 widows have been empowered in Delhi, West Bengal, MP, Bihar and Maharashtra.
On December 9, 2022, the foundation signed a memorandum with the US-India Friendship Alliance to support 5,000 disadvantaged widows in Uttar Pradesh through skills training. During 2024-25, the organisation also worked with Sulabh Hope Foundation and Lok Bharti on the Prosperity for Widows Project in Bihar, empowering 2,000 widows and their families through training in tailoring, IT services, handicrafts and food processing.
Sulabh International supported another project for 2,000 widows in Punjab. At present, hundreds of widows and young family members are receiving vocational training in districts including Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Fazilka, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Tarn Taran. On October 21, 2023, the Bharat Widows Empowerment Fund was launched at the residence of the British High Commissioner to support widows in rural India.
Born on November 13, 1943, in Dhailwan village of Punjab’s Kapurthala district, Lord Loomba studied at DAV College, Jalandhar, and later at the State University of Iowa in the United States. He moved to England in the 1960s and, in 1964, started a clothing business from a market stall in Widnes. He built the Loomba Group, which now operates hundreds of retail outlets across the UK.
His contribution has been recognised internationally. In 2008, he received the CBE from Queen Elizabeth II. UN Women named him the first Founding Champion of the Circle of Widows Rights in 2013, and in 2014, he received the Humanitarian Lifetime Achievement Award in New York. India honoured him with the Pravasi Samaan Patra in 2015 for his social service and philanthropy.