Sunday, July 08, 2018

Best to look into a mirror.

India was the most dangerous country in the world, according to Thomson Reuters poll, ahead of Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia and Saudi Arabia. The poll was conducted among 548 unnamed so-called experts, 41 of whom were Indian. Women's groups have rejected the findings of the poll while some women agree with it. Naturally, the government has rejected the report, and the Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, herself a woman expressed outrage. "The results, and the sensationalist reporting surrounding them, show how dangerous it is to make absolutist statements based solely on on the results of a poorly-designed and inherently biased perception poll," wrote Urmila Pullay. India was deemed the most dangerous under cultural traditions. "The specific question asked of experts under this heading is: 'In your view, what is the most dangerous country in the world for women in terms of cultural, tribal and religious traditions or customary practices? This includes acid attacks, female genital mutilation, child marriage; forced marriage, stoning, physical abuse or mutilation as a form of punishment/retribution and female infanticide.'" "Each of these words has different connotations. Cultural traditions are different from tribal ones and those are different from religious ones. Acid attacks that have been clubbed with these are not 'cultural traditions'." "The per capita figures for rape for 2010 (nothing more recent is available on the net) are: India - 1.8 (per 1,00,000 population); Germany - 9.4; the UK - 17; Norway - 19.2; US - 27.4; Sweden (yes the most advanced society on earth) - 63.5," wrote A Dhillon. A new law just passed in Sweden says that keeping quiet is not assent. "If a person wants to engage in sexual activities with someone who remains inactive or gives ambiguous signals, he or she will therefore have to find out if the other person is willing," says the law. Does it mean that one has to take an affidavit of consent before sex? Huge income for lawyers, after all they drafted the law. "While the British press has been bemoaning rape in India for several years now, the Rape Crisis Centre says that, ' Approximately, 85,000 women and 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales alone every year; that's 11 rapes (of adults alone) every hour.'" Sexual violence has reduced in India in the past decade even as reporting has increased, wrote P Bhattacharya. Even a low rate results in a huge absolute number because of the humongous population. Families which ran away with cots from Rahul Gandhi's 'khaat sabha' live in hovels with no proper doors. Poverty leads to insecurity. And yet, rich nations have a higher rate of rape. So, what's the solution?

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