aditya kumar's weblog

A sense of security, of course.

Yesterday’s Sunday Magazine of The Hindu carries a very thought provoking, well-researched article by Kalpana Sharma. The article is titled “What Bush did not know” and contrary to the impression this title may give you, this is not an article focussing on Bush Jr’s recent visit to India.

Instead, the article throws open an issue that often has provoked debates but more often than not, has failed to find solid conclusions.

Consider this — Of the 14000 people interviewed in Delhi, 50% of women do not feel safe in the city. Nine out of ten women who used public transport felt unsafe about it. 45% of women felt unsafe at their workplace.

These are staggering figures. These are disturbing figures.

There is more. Delhi records the highest percentage of reported crime against women. Mind my words here, reported crime.

Keep in mind, a big part of these crimes go unreported. Obviously, there is more to it than what meets the eye.

So what can be done? A lot can be done if only the cities are planned keeping in mind the threats faced by the most vulnerable of the society. Poor people and women working late hours among them.

As the author rightly points out, three factors need to be considered — The Environment, The Poor and The most vulnerable. Roads could be well lit for example. We could do with more emergency services. Going to the Police and invoking the law should be encouraged.

But obviously, as evident, Malls and shopping centres are the money churners now and the Government, take any State Government, has half a dozen of these projects going on in the main cities.

There is nothing wrong and I don’t have anything against it, but I always have felt, the basic needs of the city should come first. What is the point of having glittery, seven floor shopping centres if a city doesn’t have well lit roads. Even in Bangalore, the city where I live, a lot of the colony roads, or whatever is left of them, are enveloped in darkness after sunset. Clearly, a lot can be done about it but in the past one year that I have been here, I have seen negligble development regarding the city’s infrastructure.

Then of course, is the factor of the mental attitude of people. In a hypothetical situation where we may have the same city conditions in both Delhi and Bombay, women in Bombay are bound to feel safer than their counterparts in Delhi. As the author rightly points out again, the difference here is in the ‘way women in public spaces are viewed in the north and the south’.

Meanwhile, please read the article here.