Supporting the Poorest of the Poor in India

Raj Loomba has made a mark in an increasing number of affluent overseas Indians who are contributing and assisting the less privileged Indians back home. Raj Loomba has done a lot of work for the poorest of the poor, the widows and the education of their children in India over the last ten years.

Loomba, the head of the Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba Trust in the UK, educates the children of poor widows throughout India. The trust, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, was established in the UK in June 1997, conceived jointly by Raj, a UK based businessman and his wife, Veena. The inspiration to initiate such a cause and to arrange funds for the Trust came from Raj's late mother, Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, whom destiny made a widow at the age of 37. Overcoming all difficulties, she successfully managed to educate her seven children single-handedly ensuring a bright future for them. It was after her death that Raj felt a need to do something for women who had gone through a lot of turmoil in a manner similar to that of his mother, whether it was being self-reliant, bringing up their children, attaining social respect and equality or just being able to live a comfortable life seeing their children settled.

Since then, the trust has come up with various initiatives including: The Loomba Trust and loomba foundation Partnership Initiative, which enables individuals as well as corporations to educate children of poor widows in India through the charity with the choice of the city and the state depending completely on the donor. The Initiative has been well received by various front runner corporations including HSBC, BT, EDF, Clegg Gifford & Co, Mellon Group, ICICI, Precis, Flintstones and Birla Charitable Trust among others. It is heartening to see such successful people doing their bit for causes like these, at the same time it is inspirational for others to follow the same path of providing for the well being of the have-nots. The Loomba Trust is currently educating children of poor widows in all 29 states in India, also including those children who had lost their parents to the grave natural calamities like the Orissa Cyclone, the Bhuj Earthquake and the Tsunami disaster.

Under the aegis of the trust, over 3,610 underprivileged children of the widows are being educated in India - at least 100 in every Indian state, which in itself is a remarkable number going by the fact that this cause has been neglected since long by the various state governmental administrations.

Raj Loomba has been mobilizing funds to help the cause from across the world. The trust has had the support of various dignitaries and high profile people in the West since its inception, including the likes of Cherie Blair, who incidentally is also the Trust's President, also providing ample support are admirable Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Atlantic; Baroness Betty Boothroyd, former Speaker of the House of Commons, who is also one of the patrons of the trust. India's Minister for Women and Child Development, Renuka Chowdhury, India's Minister for Women and Child Development, has also pledged support to the trust by appealing to the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to declare 23rd June as the International Widows Day. A new initiative, International Widows Day was launched by The Loomba Trust in 2005. It takes place each year on 23rd of June, to bring to light the situation of widows and their children all over the world and to provide a focus for effective action thereafter It has deep significance for the Loomba family as it was on this day that Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, the inspiration behind the Trust, had become a widow.

The Trust has been organizing International Conferences with a vision to highlight the plight of widows and their children across the globe, and providing a platform for discussions about this sadly neglected cause. The trust has been honoured with the Asian Charity of the Year Award in Britain for 2007. Striving hard ever since to achieve their goal of educating the children of widows throughout India.

The only wish all the underprivileged and the deprived people around the world could perhaps ask for would be to have a few more Raj Loomba to take care of the widows and their children. Hopefully, there would be many more people out there who would have the courage to follow Raj's untaken path