There are many ways to walk alongside those who have served through partnership, funding, research, storytelling, or simply showing up. Whatever your means, there is a place for you at the Centre of Excellence for the Bravehearts.
A national disability study using the National Sample Survey found that 60.7% of persons with disabilities reported loss of work due to disability onset. This is national disability evidence, not soldier-specific evidence, but it is relevant to the lived realities of disabled veterans and war-wounded personnel.
For a soldier, employment after disability is not only about income. It is also about identity, dignity, routine, social reintegration and the ability to rebuild life after service-related injury.
CoEB should therefore frame livelihood support as a dignity-led rehabilitation intervention, not as charity. This directly strengthens the case for initiatives such as Shaurya Cafe and other livelihood pathways.
CoEB works with institutional donors and foundations to create sustainable, evidence-led programmes for war-injured veterans, Veer Naris, and military families. Through grants, capacity building, and long-term collaboration, partners help strengthen initiatives focused on recovery, livelihood, mental well-being, rehabilitation, and social reintegration.
The Artificial Limb Centre, Pune remains one of India’s premier institutions for prosthetic and rehabilitation care, with a long history of serving amputee soldiers and civilians.
India has specialised military rehabilitation capacity, but long-term outcomes depend on follow-up, repair and replacement, gait training, mobility access, pain management, family support, employment pathways and mental health care.
CoEB emphasizes on the fact that assistive rehabilitation is not a one-time intervention. A limb, wheelchair, brace or assistive device must be supported by continuity, training, confidence and opportunity.
The BMJ Open study reports that 62.8% of persons with disabilities had caregivers available. This should not be written as “62.8% depended on caregivers.”
The most important point remains: disability is rarely borne by one person alone. Spouses, parents, children and widows often carry the daily emotional, logistical and financial burden of care.
For military families, caregiving can include hospital travel(which often translates into travelling to far away cities), prosthetic adjustment, paperwork, pension documentation, mobility support, emotional support and long years of silent labour.
According to Ministry of Defence data shared in a Rajya Sabha reply and released by PIB on 27 March 2023, India had 14,467 War Widows / Veer Naris. The same official data shows the highest numbers in Punjab -2,132, Uttar Pradesh- 1,805, Haryana-1,566, Uttarakhand- 1,407, Rajasthan-1,317, and Jammu & Kashmir-1,218, underlining how widely the burden of military loss is spread across India’s states.
Behind these figures are not just widows, but entire Veer Parivars– children, ageing parents and dependants whose lives are permanently altered by a soldier’s death or disabling injury. Many families must navigate grief alongside practical struggles: documentation, pension and entitlement processes, children’s education, relocation, caregiving responsibilities, social isolation and the difficult work of rebuilding security, identity and dignity after loss. This is why support for Veer Naris must also extend to the larger family unit- because military sacrifice is carried not by one person alone, but by an entire household.
Children are often the silent stakeholders in military loss and disability. When a parent is killed, disabled or locked in a long entitlement struggle, the effects can touch schooling, higher education, emotional security, relocation, household income and future opportunity.
This is why education support, scholarship awareness, mentorship, counselling and continuity of care should be part of any serious family-welfare framework.
For CoEB children’s education and confidence are a long-term dignity issue, not a one-time charitable expense.
To collaborate, partner, support, or learn more about our work, write to us at: connect@bravehearts.co.in