Rs 203 million Indian assistance for Sri Lanka's war widows

Colombo, Jun 2 (PTI) India has provided assistance
worth Rs 203 million to Sri Lanka for rebuilding the lives of
war affected women and their families in the country's eastern
province, a senior Indian official said here on Thursday.
"The assistance is very important as it would rebuild
the lives of war affected women and their families.
"Its objective is economic empowerment of women by
imparting employable livelihood skills, capacity building
among war affected women in vocational trades and assistance
in creating sustainable livelihood activities," said Ashok K
Kantha, the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
This is part of continued Indian assistance extended
towards rehabilitation and reconstruction of Sri Lanka's
former battle zones. An agreement to provide assistance and
implementation support for establishment of a trade
facilitation centre and a community learning centre at
Batticaloa has been signed under this technical grant.
The Indian assistance aims at the overall improvement
of socio-economic indicators in the eastern province. The
grant could also be extended to cover other areas of the
nation, Kantha said.
An estimated 49,000 women in the eastern province were
left widowed by the 37-year-long civil war. At least 40,000
more widows are estimated to be in the northern province
according to government statistics.
The civil war ended on May 19, 2009 with the killing
of rebel LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran by the security
forces.