ALARMING RISE IN RAPE CASES IN INDIA: REPORT

Between 2001 and 2014, rape cases have doubled from 16,075 to 36,705 in India, revealed a report by the Kerala government. The report also shows an alarming rise in crimes towards married women where the accused is known to the victim.

The ‘status of women in India’ report was released at the ongoing international conference on gender equality in Kovalam jointly organised by UN Women and Kerala government. And cruelty toward married women figures have also gone up at least two and a half times from 49,170 to 1,22,877 cases during this period. “It is really disturbing that home is the worst destination triggering violence against women in the form of incest, marital rape and forced early marriages,” said Dr Pam Rajput, chairperson of the high-level committee on the status of women in India. The committee was constituted by Ministry of Women and Child Development in 2012.

Quoting extensively from the report she said it was an attempt to recommend policy interventions based on contemporary assessment of women’s economic, legal, political, education, health and socio-cultural needs. She also highlighted areas requiring urgent action including legal aspects, new national policy on empower ment of women, financial inclusion, skill development, inter ministerial coordination and institutional changes among others.

The report also highlights another disturbing trend, globally Indian women rank second-last (141 of 142 countries) in health.

As an antidote, the panel proposed a steep hike in public health spending to 4.5%. (currently the country spends about 1.25% of its GDP on public health compared to 3% in China and 8.5 in United States).

She added that India has one of the worst gender gap in the world workforce participation with only 25% engaged in employment, 15% in urban and the rest in rural areas. “Despite the economic growth and the increase in the level of education women find it difficult to make free choices,” she said.

On Thursday, Kerala had unveiled a transgender policy, a first of its kind in the country, aimed at giving them equal treatment and opportunity to third sex in all sectors. The comprehensive policy contained many measures including reservation for third sex in jobs and setting up of a transgender justice board to redress their problems. They would also get free legal aid against discrimination and violence.