About Us

        "India in every generation has produced millions of women who may never have found    fame but whose daily existence has helped to civilize the race and whose warmth of heart, self-sacrificing zeal and unassuming loyalty are glories of this ancient race."     Dr.S Radhakrishnan-in his Biography.

      The Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA) is an Association of wives of the naval personnel. It is a registered society; under Society Registration Act XXI of 1860 vide certificate number 3224 issued on 27th January 1967 as Naval Officers Wives Association and name amended as NWWA on 14th February 1986. NWWA supplements the efforts of the Navy in areas of community welfare and development particularly with regard to the families. All wives of the naval personnel are members of the Association automatically. The Navy extends the needed encouragement and support for the NWWA programmes as it lays a great emphasis in the well-being of the families.

      NWWA operates on an all India basis and is headed by the wife of the Chief of the Naval Staff based at New Delhi. The wives of the three Commanders-in-Chief at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Kochi, monitor and coordinate NWWA activities, within the respective Commands and are designated as Regional Presidents.

      Mrs Madhulika Verma, designated as President, is presently the head of NWWA. Under her leadership the Association is doing pioneering work in many socially relevant areas. The range of the programs of the Association covers most areas of concern to women today from home & children to jobs & careers.

      Now as we enter the 21st century, a new sensibility is emerging among the navy wives that each one has a contribution to make. There is no contradiction between women who have opted for professional and other works and those who have stayed at 'home' - each one has a very vital role to play in all aspects of life of the community and society. Doors are always open for active participation, at any stage, in any of our programmes for making improvements in the community. The philosophy of working in NWWA is reflected in what Faiz Ahmed has said:

           Voh log bahut khush kismat tthey,

               Jo ishq ko kaam samjthe tthey

                        Yeh kaam se aashiqi karte tthey

                              Hum jeetey jee mushroof rahey

                                      Kuch ishq kiya, kuch kaam kiya.

       Genesis

      As the time of Independence the Navy wives were a part of Armed Forces Women’s Welfare Organization, a combined body of Defence wives mainly operating from Delhi with each service holding the president-ship by turn – a legacy from colonial times. The charter of duties of this Organization included visiting hospitals, taking care of widows, rolling bandages, attending signals and plotting classes. Although the work was challenging and generated a lot of enthusiasm amongst the ladies, it did not provide for interaction with the community at the grass-root level.

Naval Officers Wives Association (NOWA)

The seed of Navy Wives Organization was sown in Mumbai in 1948 when Mrs. Manek Soman, invited some ladies and proposed formation of an organized welfare body to help sailors and their families who were struggling with diverse problems in the post independence era. Mrs. Betty David was elected President of this informal set up at the first meeting of the members in the Naval Officers Mess Vasant Sagar, Mumbai. The formation of Naval Officers Wives Association (NOWA), in 1949 under the leadership of Lady Parry, was therefore a natural evolutionary process. A constitution was drafted and the Association got off to a start at Delhi, Bombay, Cochin, Visakhapatnam and Jamnagar.

Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA)

     The Association continued to grow & evolve ever since with increasing involvement and influence over issues of community needs. Many of the loan schemes prevalent in service today can be traced back to NOWA. The first family clinics, an important facility today, opened as NOWA Clinics. KG schools have been NOWA/NWWA 'babies', as are the play schools ‘Little Angels’ today. Plans for the care of the naval widows and handicapped have all sprung from sensitive and caring women.

      In the year 1985, Mrs Meera Tahiliani, the then President, took the initiative and set in motion events which led to the change over from NOWA to Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA). The evolution from NOWA to NWWA marked a significant stage in the process of democratization of the Association. Sailors' wives were integrated with equal rights of membership without discrimination between officers' and sailors' wives.

New Organization – a metamorphosis

      The new organization consequently began to exert its own pressures leading to better appreciation of community needs. This led to the second major development, which was initiated in 1991, by Mrs Lalita Ramdas, when the organization became truly professional with multifaceted welfare and development programmes. The new organization of the Association has now been in place for many years meeting community needs directly through its programmes and projecting larger issues to the Navy for necessary action as an authentic opinion survey agency.

      Mrs Binu Shekhawat, who took over from Mrs Ramdas, provided the needed steadying hand consolidating the rapid progress. She worked tirelessly to democratize NWWA in spirit removing rank consciousness. During her stewardship the Regions (Commands) were given greater autonomy and NWWA Units were set free to devise their own programmes to suit local needs within the extensive NWWA charter. Having assimilated the changes, NWWA is gathering momentum once again under the leadership of the present President -  Mrs Madhulika Verma,