Skip to main content

Lockdown: NCW 'highly under-reporting' sharp rise in domestic violence cases

By Our Representative
Taking into account sharp rise in domestic violence against women across the world during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, a web policy talk, organised by the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI) in association with the GenDev Centre for Research and Innovation has been told that in India there has been a huge rise in domestic violence, though regretting, the National Commission for Women (NCW) is “under-report cases.”
Prof Balwant Singh Mehta, research director, IMPRI and fellow, Institute of Human Development (IHD) said, one in every three women in the world experience physical and/or sexual violence in her lifetime, while one in every four women faced domestic violence in India, adding, “One in every three married women in age group 15-49 experienced physical and/or sexual violence.”
Quoting studies, Prof Mehta said, “The most surprising part is eight out of ten such women reported their current husbands as the main perpetrators, which is justified by half of the women in certain circumstances like neglecting the house or the children, or going out of the house without permission.”
Pointing out that there has been a “sharp rise in cases of violence against women after the novel coronavirus outbreak and lockdown in Germany, Canada, Spain, UK, China, France, US of America and many other countries”, the NCW has also confirms “a significant increase in gender-based violence in India, with reported cases of domestic violence going up to 914 in May 2020 from 271 in January 2020.
However, he regretted, NCW has “highly under-reported cases due to various reasons, and needs urgent attention from government and other stakeholders.”
Prof Govind Kelkar, chairperson, Gender Impact Studies Centre, IMPRI, and executive director, GenDev Centre for Research and Innovation, said , women spend 312 minutes per day in urban and 291 min per day in rural areas in “unpaid care work”, while men spend only 29 minutes per day in urban and 32 minutes per day in “care work”. 
Worse sufferers include government-sponsored Asha women health workers, who face the cycle of delayed payments-rising expenses-debt cycle
Prof Kelkar said, two worst outcomes of the current pandemic is rise in income inequality and increase in domestic violence against women, noting, the lockdown has put “a lot of pressure on women particularly their burden of household and care work has increased multiple time. Worse sufferers include government-sponsored Asha women health workers, “who face the cycle of delayed payments-rising expenses-debt cycle”, which is “life threatening.”
Dr Manorama Bakshi, senior adviser, Tata Trusts, said, as per the cost-benefit analysis done by Copenhagen Consensus Centre, gender-based violence costs 25 times more than wars, adding, the girl child is the “most affected” post-pandemic with a likely rise in cases of child labour and child marriages due to poverty.
She added, “Patriarchy and other social norms that hinder the gender equality”, suggesting, “The government’s positive actions will decide the situation of gender inequality post-pandemic.”
Suhela Khan, country programme coordinator, WeEmpower Asia, UN Women, said that the pandemic has not only resulted rise in domestic violence but also spiked the cases of sexual and ethnic violence. “Lack of privacy at home for women is also a major reason for violence against women”, she said.
According to the UN expert, “Many men have lost their job, Lack of income and frustration among them is converting into violence against women at home”, adding, “Work from home has increased during the pandemic, which is providing a new way of work for women who can make the work-life balance by working from home.”
Dr Indu Prakash Singh, facilitator, CityMakers Mission International regretted that “inactiveness” on the part of the police force to help women who are in trouble is a major reason why violence against women continues unabated. He wondered how men seek to justify violence against women in our society.
The web policy talk was initiated by Dr Simi Mehta, CEO and editorial director, IMPRI, pointing out thatviolence against women continues to be one of “the most prevalent and least recognised human right violations.” Two research assisants, IMPRI, Anshula Mehta and Ritika Gupta, gave specific instances of women suffering from mental and physical harassment.
Dr Arjun Kumar, director, IMPRI, who summed up the discussion, suggested that families and teachers should teach their wards, especially boys, about the importance of gender equality in society and the need to remove evil societal norms such as patriarchy and male domination and violence against women. “Without removing such social evils, we cannot think about achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of gender-equal society by 2030”, he said.

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'A disaster in the making': Expansion of oil palm plantations in Northeast India

By Rupa Chinai, Ravi Chellam*  Until a few decades ago, India was nearly 100% self-sufficient in edible oils, with a diverse variety of oilseeds that were grown and consumed sustainably in keeping with the ecological and climatic conditions of different regions in the country. Today, India is highly reliant on palm oil imports to meet its vegetable oil demands. 

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative  In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman  ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.