‘Chalo behno karo sawal…ab hamey chup nahin rehna hai..’(Come on sisters, it’s time to question). The spirited song by poor single women from villages in Himachal Pradesh at their meetings at once scripts the story of their journey to success.

Walking together under the banner of Ekal Naari Shakti Sangathan (ENSS) for 12 years now, these rural women have broken the shackles of taboo ridden society and are no longer the solitary reapers of hope.

“We are fighting for the rights of single women. We don’t want sympathetic approach by the government,” said Nirmal Chandel, 49, state convener of ENSS, at the annual convention of the Sangathan here.

Chandel, who was widowed at the age of 23, had launched the forum in 2005, with the support of Social Uplift Through Rural Action (SUTRA) and since there is no looking back.

The ENSS now has over 15,000 single women as its members, mostly including little educated widows and deserted women and it continuously raises the pitch and moves the system for inclusion of the single women in state schemes.

As per data shared by ENSS, HP has around four lakh single women, majority of them widows or deserted women. What is serious is that every seventh woman in HP is a single woman (18 per cent of total population) and their numbers have increased by 28 per cent over a decade from 2001 to 2011.

Even as HP is seen as a progressive state, the treatment meted out to single women, especially young widows, is bad and they are considered ‘cursed’ or ‘inauspicious’. In many cases, the widows and deserted women are sidelined by the in-laws, so that they don’t claim property. In many cases, the single women, even unmarried ones, fight a lonely battle with family, society and the government for rights.

And it is here that the ENSS has made a significant difference to their lives.

“It has given me strength and confidence to face the society and live my life with dignity,” said Radha, 38, a divorcee from Khaniara near Dharamshala in Kangra district. A matriculate, Radha, once tried to commit suicide thrice when her husband, a taxi driver, would torture her and burn her with cigarette buts. She was left alone with little son to fend for herself.

From there, she fortunately walked too far as a member of ENSS since its inception and won the leadership award twice at the national level.

“There are so many instances like Radha, where harassed single women are now in leadership role and carved a niche for themselves in society. They don’t feel shy in coming forward and they don’t feel awkward when they talk of their rights loudly. But they have miles to go,” said SUTRA’s director, Subhash Mendapurkar.