Whenever, I would call my
mother or sister and after few exchanges the topic would shift to: " how unsafe is
India". This really started made me think is India really that unsafe?
After the Nirbhaya case, I started pondering deep on the subject. Has India really become unsafe for women? My continuous dialogue with myself made me highlight many things which are happening in India now.
I got respite after I chanced to read this article in Time, the link of which I am attaching, Why Rape Seems Worse in India Than Everywhere Else (but Actually Isn’t),
But, then I wanted to be very clear about the statistics of crime in India versus rest of the world. Country vs country: India and United States compared: Crime stats. This links lets you compare and view crime statistics between any two countries. India ranked very low on rape and crime index.
India has a population of 1.2 billion people so proportionately the number of incidents are going to be more. This is simple statistics. But people fail to understand that concept and focus mainly on the raw numbers. Its something like 1% of 300 million is 3 million but 1% of 1.2 billion is 9 million. You look at the figures and the first impression is wow 9 million- but in percentage terms it is exactly the same. This is the problem when people from countries with far samller populations look at India. It is difficult for most countries with small populations to even imagine 1.2 billion people.
India is at the verge of a massive social change. Whenever there is a change in society there is a rebound by the existing system. In India, women have become more educated, more confident and are not afraid of standing for their rights now. Earlier, women would quietly bear the brunt of men who were the breadwinners. She was not supposed to retaliate but the quality of a good wife or a girl was her tolerance of these issues. There was also no support from her family. She would often meekly accept her husband going to other woman or bringing his new young wife home.
The new generation girl knows her rights, has the confidence to go and even speak in public if she is exploited. She is not willing to suffer torture but walk out of the house to live her own life. The support from her parents is also increasing. They are more concerned about the happiness of their daughter. Women now come into the open and identify their culprits not bothering about the brunt of humiliaton.
Whenever there is a transition in society these things take place. The number of rape cases, crime jump because of this transition in society. So, the same is now happening in India
Whenever there is a change, the turmoil in values, ethics all get confusing. Can Indian society accept the new form of this women? It will take some more time for the men to understand and accept women as an important and equal part of their life.
After the Nirbhaya case, I started pondering deep on the subject. Has India really become unsafe for women? My continuous dialogue with myself made me highlight many things which are happening in India now.
I got respite after I chanced to read this article in Time, the link of which I am attaching, Why Rape Seems Worse in India Than Everywhere Else (but Actually Isn’t),
But, then I wanted to be very clear about the statistics of crime in India versus rest of the world. Country vs country: India and United States compared: Crime stats. This links lets you compare and view crime statistics between any two countries. India ranked very low on rape and crime index.
India has a population of 1.2 billion people so proportionately the number of incidents are going to be more. This is simple statistics. But people fail to understand that concept and focus mainly on the raw numbers. Its something like 1% of 300 million is 3 million but 1% of 1.2 billion is 9 million. You look at the figures and the first impression is wow 9 million- but in percentage terms it is exactly the same. This is the problem when people from countries with far samller populations look at India. It is difficult for most countries with small populations to even imagine 1.2 billion people.
India is at the verge of a massive social change. Whenever there is a change in society there is a rebound by the existing system. In India, women have become more educated, more confident and are not afraid of standing for their rights now. Earlier, women would quietly bear the brunt of men who were the breadwinners. She was not supposed to retaliate but the quality of a good wife or a girl was her tolerance of these issues. There was also no support from her family. She would often meekly accept her husband going to other woman or bringing his new young wife home.
The new generation girl knows her rights, has the confidence to go and even speak in public if she is exploited. She is not willing to suffer torture but walk out of the house to live her own life. The support from her parents is also increasing. They are more concerned about the happiness of their daughter. Women now come into the open and identify their culprits not bothering about the brunt of humiliaton.
Whenever there is a transition in society these things take place. The number of rape cases, crime jump because of this transition in society. So, the same is now happening in India
Whenever there is a change, the turmoil in values, ethics all get confusing. Can Indian society accept the new form of this women? It will take some more time for the men to understand and accept women as an important and equal part of their life.
human beings are same everywhere ,and yes its more in the news now
ReplyDeleteI have been in India multiple times and I do not find people any different than any other part of the world.
the world is the same everywhere- what is distressing is the tendency to believe that you are better than others!
ReplyDeleteso true, more often it is raising the television rating point (TRP) !
ReplyDeletethe world is the same everywhere. In US the incident of rape rose sharply during early 1900s as the society there was under transition. The same is happening in India now- nothing new!
ReplyDelete