Friday 11 October 2013

WOMEN OF THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY INDIA, MUST UNITE AND TAKE UP ARMS TO FIGHT INJUSTICES !


           

           One of the saddest aspects in the globe today is that nearly half of the population-female- are by and large have become subjects of rape, atrocity,torture,manhandling, cruelty, domestic violence,discrimination etc in almost all countries of the World  The countries of Asian continent, which are the most populous continent with 4.2 billion around 60 percent of world population, have surpassed in this nefarious activities beyond imagination ! Today the women are most in secured in the world. Out of total population on the earth-7.117  billion-, the proportion of sex ratio is approximately 1.01 male to 1 female as per global sex ratio count in 2012 , drawn by the United States Census Bureau (USCB). Almost all countries on the earth, are male dominated with little window of opportunity to the opposite sex. And the women are tolerating, almost silently, all the injustices, meted out to them !  Almost all print and electronic media through out the world are , today, flooded with incidents of rapes and other atrocities on women of the world. My two essays-Women of the Globe becoming Most vulnerable....written on July 20, 2012 and Women are Not Safe in India...., written on July 28, 2012 on my link-www.kksingh1.blogspot.com clearly reflect the such ills in the society. Now the appropriate time has come for women of the world to unite and take up arms to fight against injustices on them throughout the GLOBE !

         WOMEN IN INDIA:-Such inhuman practices are very much common in other cities, towns and villages in India, which is the second largest populous country in the world. Less said is better about developed countries in Europe, America etc. Various surveys and reports by United Nations and other agencies, published in The Guardian and other newspapers and magazines  have confirmed the incidents of atrocity on women in the globe. When incidents of such heinous crimes on women happen, much hypes are created but nothing tangible is done to stop such things. Persons, involved in inflicting such crimes on women, usually get away without any sever punishments ! Apart from that women in the world, particularly in India are isolated from the respective mainstreams by successive brands of political classes in the globe. At least in India, efforts of empowering women is not working despite clear cut provisions in our Constitution. Women are almost half of the population in India. Women of India are neglected lots in India since ancient days. They are not allowed to come out from the houses. All political classes are supporting 50 percent reservation to women in the "lever of power" for Parliament and state legislatures. Matter is hanging fire since many years, thanks to the lack of determination and guts power among political classes of all hues! Instead , women are target of atrocities in India openly if one considers reports of abuses on women by dominant and powerful males In India !

          "There is undoubtedly a cultural dimension to violence against women and at the very least the U N Study demonstrates that the legal frame work for dealing with sexual violence in many Asian states is barely fit for the purpose. But we do not solve that problems by exaggerating it to the point of absurdity or pretending that we can treat diverse populations with essentially nothing in common as upholding some kind of ubiquitous misogyny." Instead of giving equal or lever of power under much-publicised social justice, the male bastion of the world believe in looking women as sex symbols.In such inhuman games males including politicians, sadhu, sants , officials are involved  in many cases of sexual abuses in the name of blind faiths and belief.They are involved in criminal cases for raping and perpetuating other forms of atrocity on women at least in India today. Almost on daily basis, the crime of rapes are being committed in every parts of the country.Notwithstanding the rape and murder of a young woman in Delhi last year, and the subsequent death handed out to the four perpetrators, has prompted all manner of soul searching in India, women's rights have -finally- come the forefront in a country where the concept remains curiously alien to many of its inhabitants.

          25pc ADMITS RAPES:-Recent verdict in rape case in Delhi in India coincided with the release of U N -led study on sexual violence in Asia and Pacific. Although survey did not include India in its sample-survey, it did not fail to dissuade commentators from drawing a parallel between the findings and the Delhi case. The U N survey has shockingly revealed that 25 percent of the men surveyed admit to raping a partner or a stranger. Such report amply authenticates the unequivocal confirmation that the Asian women are the victims of a deep-rooted- cultural problem. The study, published in The Guardian,  covered a small, but diverse number of Asian countries-Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Pappua New Guinea. In each country, men were asked about their experiences both within and outside of relationship. In most cases, the samples were not nationality representative. In case of Papua New Guinea for instance, all of the  respondents were based on the island of Bougainvillea. as the samples were not nationally representatives, "it is impossible to use the figures to make any generalisations about the populations in these countries (for less the continent of Asia).-More importantly, out of all of the locations surveyed, the only territories in which positive responses to the questioned on rape were 25 percent or higher were Bougainvillea and the Indonesian province of Papua. In both instances the number "yes" responses from men were staggering: 43.8 percent for Papua and 59.1 percent in Bougainnville. both the areas have a recent history of conflict, which might explain the appalling prevalence of sexual violence indicated by the study. Indeed if the two samples had  not been included, the overall figure of men admitting to rape could have dropped to 18 percent. The Guardian essay says "In itself that is still a deeply worrying statistics, but the extent to which two isolated cases cam swing our perception of an entire continent should be enough to prompt a little cautions"

        Perhaps most troubling of all, though, is the nature of questions used which varied across different countries. In Bangala Desh, the first country included in the study, the questions related strictly to "forced sex". In all of the other countries, an additional question was asked which attempted to measure the prevalence of "coerced sex". The wording of these questions made no explicit mention of coercion, however, and simply asked: " have you had sexual intercourse with your partner when you knew she did not want to, but believed she should agree because she was  your wife\partner ?" But there are many defence of study-say China has a population of around 1.35 billion while Bougainville sits less that two lakh. It may well be the case that a quarter of the survey's respondents indicated they had raped someone during the course of their life but that is an entirely different thing from saying a quarter of the people in the surveyed countries have committed rape.

          Whatever may be report of UN Study, the Indian women are standing up to "abuse". A recent BBC  report says India has cases of atrocity on women in many ways. Women are beaten and tortured in India in case of not delivering male child apart from rampant rise in cases of  rapes. Situation is terrible for Indian Women. But one discernible facts have come surface that tortured women have mustered courage to approach police station in case of tortures, rapes etc unlike previously when they used to keep silence despite tortures after tortures. But cases of rapes are increasing in Delhi, the capital of India. Police have registered 1036 cases of rapes up to August 15, 2013. But the fate of such rape incidents in other cities and rural areas, which are flooded with such complaints of rape, are not assailable to the public. If one compares the incident  of rapes and subsequent convictions to the culprits in other countries , such rates are far below in India. The National Crime Records Bureau (NRBC) has said that conviction rates in rape cases are only 21.4 percent in s current year in comparison to much higher figures in the last year, says BBC report and adds during October 2013-BBC has organised "100 WOMEN SEASON", which will seek shine on life for women in their respective countries- theme "is risk, challenges and opportunity, the women face everyday in every country".

             Examples of crime and rapes on women are enormous in India ! According to India's NCRB, crimes against women have been on the rise in Indian cities in recent years. In 2012, Delhi accounted for ten percent of all crimes against women, in the 53 cities with more than a million people.. Mumbai followed with 6.4 percent, Bengaluru was third at 6.2 percent and Kolkata had 5.4 percent.

        URBAN PLANNING FAULTY IN INDIA:-According to New york Times report on sexual violence in India; urban planners and designers argue that apart from better policing, gender-sensitive city planning and design can help make India's cities safer for women. Pattern of crimes in a city, according to experts, vary according to its urban design. One of the most striking components of urban infrastructures in New Delhi is the Ring Road, a massive circular road that circles the city. It passes through several desolate areas of the city and has vast stretches without any traffic lights for miles. An Urban designer K T Ravindaran, who retired as the head of School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi , has said, " one of the most common places of rape in Delhi is a moving vehicle. They can just go on until the fuel runs out." The best -known instance of such a crime was the gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus in Delhi in December last year.Vehicular speeds in Indian  cities have increased in the past decades with the construction of multiple over passes and several major road ways that eliminated the need of traffic lights. These changes saw a parallel increase in motor-borne crimes from snatching, road rage and assault on women in moving vehicles. Ravindran said, " the speed of the city is critical. you can have fast-track lanes for public transport and cars because the city has to move. But it should have safe havens for pedestrians. That is primary condition for a city to become safe.

         Usually crimes and rapes on women in India are committed in "dark shadow" or in desolate areas in Indian cities and rural areas.. In most of the Indian cities, street lights are positioned to light roads, foot-paths or side-walks  of the roads remain in darkness.The emergence of gated neighbourhoods in India has also added to creation of empty, potentially dangerous spaces outside their confines., vulnerable to crimes. Gsutam Bhan, a senior consultant at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements, has said, " When cities become fortified, they create non-space or residual space outside the walls of their gated colonies. Those spaces then belong to no one and creates empty landscapes that violence then fills." Yet urbanisation experts are aware that sensitive planning is not enough to prevent crime in a city.Amitabh Kundu, an Economics Progfessor in Jawahar Lal Nehru University in New Delhi, who specialises in urbanisation has said, " Creating exclusionary urban spaces tends to develop an atmosphere of deprivation and violence among the excluded." The perpetrators in Delhi gang rape case and the accused of a separate rape, that of a young phot-journalist in Mumbai, came from do called urban zines of exclusion-Ravidas camp slum in New Delhi and Dhobighat slum in south Mumbai.. Bhan further said, "gender-inclusive cities are not just sager for women, they are also more egalitarian for all citizens".

       Moreover,apart from class-based segregation, India also faces the challenges of segregation on the basis of religion, with minority religious groups mostly, living in gutto-like neighbourhoods. Both the 1984 attacks on Sikhs in New Delhi and the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat were characterised by widespread sexual violence against women from Sikh and Muslim minorities.Kundu has pointed out, " Exclusionary cities wherein upper and middle class people create boundaries around their localities and thereby create a degenerated periphery tend to be extremely violent in situations of breakdown of law and order or outbreak of group violence. We saw that in 1984 when the Sikh neighbourhoods were attacked in Delhi and in the attacks on Muslim areas in Gujarat in the 2002 riots."

          Thus, women of the world, especially India must unite and take up arms to fight injustices on them. Women must mobilise the women forces throughout the world to save their chastity !

      References: websites of  The UNO, The New York Times, The Guardian , The BBC, India Govt organisations and many more websites !

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