How will you describe this — the height of imagination or limit of stupidity? To make the (Western) women tourists feel safe in India, railway coolies/porters, taxi drivers and tour guides will soon display a badge on their chests declaring — I respect women. This brilliant and visionary idea has been floated by Indian Tourism Ministry. Badges will be printed in Hindi plus 10 international languages, including English, French, Arabic, German, Italian and Japanese.
During last few decades, India has seen an unprecedented upsurge in offenses against local and foreign women — rape, molestation, acid throwing cases are widely reported. Everyone who holds some position in government seems to be upset, but Tourism Ministry seems to be quite frustrated, that’s why it has come up with such an idea. It’s same as whenever some issue has to be deferred, just form a committee to ponder upon and then forget it. If someone in the ministry thinks that by sporting a badge, a stream of respect for women will flow out of coolies and taxi drivers, then he shall better look for another job.
But it’s a serious issue for legislators, law-enforcers, religious leaders, educationalists, sociologists and the vibrant civil society to look for real reasons for such heinous crimes against women. Authorities need to come out of the rhetoric that Indian society respects the women from its heart as is evident from the worship of female deities; time has changed. With the advent of electronic media, rape cases are being widely reported and talked about. However, even now only four out of 10 rape cases are reported to the police. It’s not only the harsh sentences which may play some role in curbing these crimes but most important are the changes in legislation to make it far more easy and fast to apprehend and sentence the rapists. Onus of producing proof of rape shall not be thrust upon the victims, instead DNA test and other latest technological methods should be used to track the culprits. Another factor is glamorization of rape scenes in Bollywood and detailing of rape crime in print and electronic media which inadvertently play a negative role and encourage not discourage these crimes. This deep-rooted issue will not go away with displaying an innocent badge, it needs concrete long-term vision and strategy. — Masood Khan, Jubail
Badge of respect!
