Rapes In India Rise By 873% From 1953!

Rape in India has been described as one of India's most common crimes against women and by the UN’s human-rights chief as a “national problem”. Marital rape is not a criminal offence. The alarming find was that in the last two years, the number of incidents of crimes against women across the country has gone up by almost 16,000.

At city level, Delhi had the highest number of rape cases with 585 incidents reported last year, up 132 since 2011. For the same period, Mumbai recorded 232 cases of rape, Jaipur 134, followed by Indore and Bhopal at 125 and 114 respectively. Last year, the safest city was Tiruchirapalli with seven incidents of rapes recorded. In 2011, there was an article in "India Today". According to the magazine, 'a woman raped every 18 hours in Delhi".

So what must be the cause of so many high rapes in India, especially in Delhi? In my observation; there are some factors for these high numbers of rapes.

1. Culture, Tradition, Ethical values, Social law, Probity & Globalization

These had always been factors which differentiated India from other countries. Hamara Sanskar, Hamara Asul! Our tradition and our values. Swami Vivekananda foresaw the dangers of Globalization as early as in 1893 when he spoke at the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. To quote his soul-stirring words: 'Shall India die? Then, from the world all spirituality will be extinct, all sweet-souled sympathy for religion will be extinct, all ideality will be extinct; and in its place will reign the duality of lust and luxury as the male and female deities, with money as its priest, fraud, force, and competition its ceremonies, and human soul its sacrifice. Such a thing can never be'.”  Precisely such a terrible thing is taking place in India today on account of the inexorable and immutable process of Globalization.

2. Day-Dreaming, Our Heritage, Our Pride, Movies, Bollywood

Revealing body and scanty clothing does not help the confused adolescent to keep calm. When these propagate us to explore things, which we are not supposed to do, make things more and more detrimental. It should also kept in mind, how movies are made and not to include sexual content / rape related content in our movies at all. Unwanted double meaning dialogues and unwanted contents should be avoided no matter how much commerce it brings to the bank. Every time a rape happens, girls come to the road staging protests and saying "Dressing is my right, teach your sons to behave". It’s not just the behaviour of the rapist that needs to be taken in account; but also the dressing of the victim as well. We are talking about a country here which has 1.2 billion populations and our country has not got enough GOVT-resources/money/regulatory forces to control it's 1.2 billion populations. It is different in western countries which has lot less population in comparison to India, hence they can be easily regulated. Other thing we need to factor is the lack of equitability in our society. Only 10% (lets say) can afford to wear the kind of clothing which triggers male attention, hence a rape. This could be the cause of dissatisfaction from rest 90% who want to avail such luxury but can not afford to. That difference in affordability causes rage against those minority lots who can afford to. If the land had continued to stick to its tradition, ethics and culture as before, definitely the boys and girls would be brought up in a manner as they were a generation ago. But because of the globalization effects, there is not much of binding culture present as well. So the mindset of this generation is very narrow, fearless and lost at the moment.

3. Alcohol, Alcohol & Alcohol

With more than half of all alcohol drinkers in India falling into the criteria for hazardous drinking, alcohol abuse is emerging as a major public-health problem in the country. India's reputation as a country with a culture of abstinence especially in matters regarding alcohol is underserved, say experts. The country, which has seen a rapid proliferation of city bars and nightclubs in recent years, is fast shedding its inhibitions about alcohol as a lifestyle choice. This situation has led to fears of an undocumented rise in alcohol abuse not only among poorer classes but also in sections of society that were previously considered dry. There is a need of immediate change in policy that will regulate sales, pricing and the use of alcohol carefully.

We all try relentlessly to blame the elected government in power, for everything happening in our society. GOVT can do some much and if we think carefully, are they resourced enough to combat this problem on their own, which has spread like an epidemic in our country, where 1.2 billion people live? It is LOGICALLY impossible.

I do believe IF Government can use these THREE powerful and double-edged tools correctly; they would prove to be great sources of enlightenment and empowerment. Many good messages can be sent to our countrymen, which would make our society a better palace, as it was before.