India's 48% women victims of partner violence: Ranks 131 of 153 nations in gender index

By Jag Jivan
A fresh report jointly prepared by two of the world’s best known institutes, the Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security (Washington), and the Peace Research Institute (Oslo), has ranked India a poor 131st in its Women Peace and Security (WPS) Index among 153 countries for 2017-18, worse than other competing BRICS (short form for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, on one hand, and all of India’s neighbours, except Pakistan, on the other.
Measuring WPS index on a scale one 1, the report says, “Overall, the index values range from a high of .886 for Iceland, which leads the world in this first edition of the WPS Index, down to .385 for Afghanistan and Syria, the bottom ranked countries in a tie for last place.”
India’s WPS Index is .580, as against the global average of .662.
Suggesting a huge gap between India’s economic development and gender security, the report says that the country’s the WPS index rank is 27 per cent less than the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rank.
Giving a detailed account of the WPS ranking and the reason why India ranks so poor compared to peer countries as well as neighours, the data provided by the report show that a whopping 47.7% of women experience lifetime intimate partner violence.
Other figures of equal significance, released by the report, include the mean year schooling of women in the age group 25+ being 5.4, financial inclusion touching 42.6% of women aged 15+, 25% of men aged 15+ agree that it is unacceptable for women to work, and just 29.4% of 25+ women are employed.

Comments the report, “High levels of gender inequality manifested in son bias”, adding, data on India and China are particularly linked to “their unbalanced sex ratios and the likelihood of conflict.” It cites studies to say, “Youth population bulges in India over 1956–2002 are associated with higher levels of armed conflict, political violence, and Hindu-Muslim riots.”
Azerbaijan and China top the list of 10 countries with the worst son bias, with 116 boys born for every 100 girls, followed by Armenia (114), Viet Nam (112), India and Georgia (111), the Maldives (110), Pakistan (109), and Albania and Papua New Guinea (108).
The report says, “Given the combination of adverse sex ratios and large population size, China (5 million missing girls) and India (4 million) account for the vast majority over the five-year period, followed by Pakistan, Viet Nam, Nigeria, and Egypt”, adding, “Beyond this five year period, the aggregate numbers of missing girls are obviously much larger – estimated on the order of about 66 million in China, for example.”

Regretting that “many countries have not criminalized marital rape, 103 according to the World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law”, the report says, “Provisions criminalizing marital rape are more common in Latin America and the Caribbean and in countries in the Developed Country group”, but regrets, “No countries in the Middle East criminalize marital rape. In Sri Lanka, marital rape is recognized as a crime only when the spouses are judicially separated.”
As for India, it insists, the country “criminalizes marital rape only when the wife is younger than 15, and Bangladesh does so only when the wife is younger than 13.”

Comments

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Kolkata dialogue flags policy and finance deficit in wetland sustainability

By A Representative Wetlands were the focus of India–Germany climate talks in Kolkata, where experts from government, business, and civil society stressed both their ecological importance and the urgent need for stronger conservation frameworks.

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

Maoist activity in India: Weakening structures, 'shifts' in leadership, strategy and ideology

By Harsh Thakor* Recent statements by government representatives have suggested that Maoism in India has been effectively eliminated, citing the weakening of central leadership and intensified security operations. These claims follow sustained counterinsurgency efforts across key regions, including central and eastern India. However, available information from security agencies and independent observers indicates that while the organizational structure of the CPI (Maoist) has been significantly disrupted, elements of the movement remain active. Reports acknowledge the continued presence of cadres in certain forested regions such as Bastar and parts of Dandakaranya, alongside smaller, decentralized units adapting their operational strategies.

'Fraudulent': Ex-civil servants urge President to halt Odisha tribal land dispossession

By A Representative A collective of 81 retired civil servants from the Constitutional Conduct Group has written to the President of India expressing alarm over what they describe as the wrongful dispossession of tribal lands in Odisha’s Rayagada district. The letter, dated April 19, 2026, highlights violent clashes in Kantamal village where police personnel reportedly injured over 70 tribal residents attempting to protect their community rights.

From Manesar to Noida: Workers take to streets for bread, media looks away

By Sunil Kumar* Across several states in India, a workers’ movement is gathering momentum. This is not a movement born of luxury or ambition, nor a demand for power-sharing within the state. At its core lies a stark and basic plea: the right to survive with dignity—adequate food, and wages sufficient to afford it.

Why link women’s reservation to delimitation? The unspoken political calculus

By Vikas Meshram* April 16, 2026, is likely to be recorded as a special day in the history of Indian democracy. In a three-day special session of Parliament, the central government is set to introduce a comprehensive package of three historic bills: the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026; the Delimitation Bill, 2026; and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The stated purpose of all three is the same: to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (106th Constitutional Amendment) passed in 2023. However, the political intent concealed behind these measures — and their impact on the federal balance — is far more profound. It is absolutely essential to understand this.

Midnight weeping: The sociology of tragic vision in Badri Narayan’s poetry

By Ravi Ranjan* Badri Narayan, a distinguished Hindi poet and social scientist, occupies a unique position in contemporary Indian intellectual life by bridging the worlds of creative literature and critical social inquiry. His poetic journey began significantly with the 1993 collection 'Saca Sune Hue Kaï Dina Hue' (Truth Heard Many Days Ago). As a social historian and cultural anthropologist, Narayan pioneered a methodological shift away from elite archives toward the oral traditions and folk myths of marginalized communities. He eventually legitimized "folk-ethnography" as a rigorous academic discipline during his tenure as Director of the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute.

Catholic union opposes FCRA amendments, warns of threat to Church institutions

By A Representative The All India Catholic Union (AICU) has raised serious concerns over what it describes as growing threats to religious freedom, minority rights, and constitutional safeguards in India, warning that recent policy and legislative trends could undermine the country’s secular and federal framework.

Counterview

Search This Blog