This post has been self-published on Youth Ki Awaaz by Shambhavi Saxena. Just like them, anyone can publish on Youth Ki Awaaz.

Modi Govt.’s ‘Genius’ Move To Solve ‘Rape Crisis’ – Slash The Funding!

By Shambhavi Saxena in Politics, Society
26th February, 2015

More from Shambhavi Saxena

By Shambhavi Saxena:

In what comes as a shockingly regressive move, the budget for national rape crisis centres has been slashed from Rs 244.48 crore to Rs 18 crore, because of the Modi-government’s insistence that one independent centre to 640 districts in India, and 20 more for the 6 metropolitan cities is a waste of money. This means, India will have only 36 rape crisis centres for each state and its union territories to deal with a systemic problem in our society. Once again, that’s 36 RCCs for a population of over a billion.

anti rape

Even at a glance, the decision seems absurd, not just in terms of how little importance the problem of rape merits for the present government, but also in terms of practicality. Jagmati Sangwan of the All India Democratic Women’s Association said: “If a woman is raped in Jaisalmer, say, she will not go to a crisis centre in Jaipur.”

While the Prime Minister waxed eloquent on women’s empowerment and safety in his Independence Day speech, his and his government’s true attitude to the same is self-evident. How different are they, then, from the previous Congress-led government, when it comes to effective response to rape and other forms of sexual violence/assault?

Rape crisis centres offer a safe space for counselling, rehabilitation, medical examination and legal aid. The RCC proposal of June 2014, made provisions for lodging FIRs as well video-conferencing facilities, and is supposed to be geared towards protecting and ensuring justice for victims. It is truly heartbreaking to think that cutting down so dramatically the number of RCC’s available to victims of sexual assault can only mean that a large percentage of them will not receive the care and justice they deserve. It was hoped that with sophisticated infrastructure to handle rape cases, the first step towards eliminating rape culture would have been taken. As it is, one cannot know just how many instances of sexual violence go unreported for whatever reason. Compounded with the fact that corruption exists and the legal system moves at an excruciatingly slow pace, it appears we’ve hardly moved forward from square one, since Nirbhaya.

One has to ask why steps like these are taken to disadvantage the very people who are meant to benefit from RCCs. One must also question the logic behind budget cuts for these matters, while public money is gaily spent on, say, more ineffective coal projects, or gigantic statues. Are we to allow such a decision to slide, and pretend it does not affect us? Or are we to ensure our representatives act keeping our needs and best interests in mind? I would argue the latter.

You must be to comment.

  1. Aditya

    The budget is yet to be presented and the newspapers/JNU junta have already got the details….Wow

  2. Monistaf

    I actually think the cuts are aligned with the empirical evidence for rape in India. Based on the National Bureau of Crime Records report for the year 2013, of the nearly 6.67 million violations of the IPC, approximately 34000 were rapes. This puts it at 0.5% of the total crime. I am as much against rape as everyone else, but unlike most feminists out there, I also feel that there is a lot of other crime where victims deserve equal sympathy and compassion. Even just recognizing rape against men and boys would be a good start. Legally, men and boys cannot be raped in India, because IPC section 375 defines rapes in terms of male perpetrators and female victims. In the spirit of gender equality (Dictionary definition) I would challenge the feminists in India to recognize that rape is a crime that can affect both genders and fight for victim rights regardless of gender instead of trying to bolster their own victim complex by building more crises centers exclusively for female victims. As if, no one else or no other crime matters!!

    1. Shambhavi Saxena

      Please remember that in many cases that do get registered, justice is not meted out for various reasons. The figures available to the public are of cases that are reported. Rape is a problem that is extremely under reported because of stigma, threats and more violence, and also women wanting to avoid the hassle of snail’s pace justice and corruption etc. And I remind you that I have stated very deliberately “36 RCCs for 1bn PEOPLE, not ‘women’, because I recognize that persons of any gender can be rape victims. Feminists have been long fighting to change problematic laws, and believe us, we’re doing our best, but to our chagrin change comes very slowly. Rest assured that the fight will continue, and we demand the original 660 RCCs to provide for any and every individual subjected to rape.

      I thank you for your comment, but there is no need to deflate the urgency and importance of this issue by pitting it against ‘other crimes’.

      Peace!

    2. Monistaf

      @Shambhavi, thank you for your response and while I agree with you that there are plenty of cases where rape goes unreported, it is just as true of other crimes as well. However, informed and policy decisions can only be made based on empirical or observed data. Feminists in India are vehemently opposed to changing section 375 to acknowledge that victims and perpetrators can come from both genders. Also, there is not a single RCC in India that will even admit or help a male victim of rape, so yes, the centers are dedicated for women only, not “people” like you point out, because, apparently, men are not people. Moreover, if male rape is not acknowledged by law, how will a RCC help a male victim, because, legally he cannot be raped!! The conviction rate for rape in 2013 was 27%. That is 27% of 34K which is less than 10,000 rapes in India that can can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, in a court of law. While, I agree that it is 10,000 too many, for a population of 550 million (Because remember males do not count) it is hardly a crisis and let us stop making it one.

  3. Prasenjit Banerjee

    Somehow Filial Rape ( in Family) is not reported nor covered by Media. The Girl Child is told by the unable Mother “He will Love you like me, you have seen it before no?” Social bodies’ must have to take Anti Filial Rape stand to Protect the India’s Girl Population Please

    1. Shambhavi Saxena

      It is my hope that one day, these other forms of rape are also accommodating the law. Police rape and land-lord rape took many years to be recognized by law, and only sustained and collective agitation against marital rape, family or filial rape etc can bring an end to this horrendous system.

      Thanks for reading, and for the comment 🙂

  4. gk

    The womens department of Marxists is really busy trying to safeguard government job prospects for its subversive members. Anybody following western political history will know how the power hungry vested interests use identity politics in the name of ‘caste/dalit/gender/race/class/national/religious’ identities to secure livelihood and political power by misleading the public and making them pay for their own enslavement. The deracinated pseudo-secular elite are ready to be local franchisees for any social/color revolution designed in West.

More from Shambhavi Saxena

Similar Posts

By nishant anand

On UAPA And Right To Dissent: “Democracy Is A Dictatorship In The Absence Of Criticism”

By shakeel ahmad

Battle In Bihar: “Political Field Looks Dusty, Volcanic And Tough As Hell”

By shakeel ahmad

Playing Punjabi Songs At The Border, Are Chinese soldiers romantically scared?

Wondering what to write about?

Here are some topics to get you started

Share your details to download the report.









We promise not to spam or send irrelevant information.

Share your details to download the report.









We promise not to spam or send irrelevant information.

An ambassador and trained facilitator under Eco Femme (a social enterprise working towards menstrual health in south India), Sanjina is also an active member of the MHM Collective- India and Menstrual Health Alliance- India. She has conducted Menstrual Health sessions in multiple government schools adopted by Rotary District 3240 as part of their WinS project in rural Bengal. She has also delivered training of trainers on SRHR, gender, sexuality and Menstruation for Tomorrow’s Foundation, Vikramshila Education Resource Society, Nirdhan trust and Micro Finance, Tollygunj Women In Need, Paint It Red in Kolkata.

Now as an MH Fellow with YKA, she’s expanding her impressive scope of work further by launching a campaign to facilitate the process of ensuring better menstrual health and SRH services for women residing in correctional homes in West Bengal. The campaign will entail an independent study to take stalk of the present conditions of MHM in correctional homes across the state and use its findings to build public support and political will to take the necessary action.

Saurabh has been associated with YKA as a user and has consistently been writing on the issue MHM and its intersectionality with other issues in the society. Now as an MHM Fellow with YKA, he’s launched the Right to Period campaign, which aims to ensure proper execution of MHM guidelines in Delhi’s schools.

The long-term aim of the campaign is to develop an open culture where menstruation is not treated as a taboo. The campaign also seeks to hold the schools accountable for their responsibilities as an important component in the implementation of MHM policies by making adequate sanitation infrastructure and knowledge of MHM available in school premises.

Read more about his campaign.

Harshita is a psychologist and works to support people with mental health issues, particularly adolescents who are survivors of violence. Associated with the Azadi Foundation in UP, Harshita became an MHM Fellow with YKA, with the aim of promoting better menstrual health.

Her campaign #MeriMarzi aims to promote menstrual health and wellness, hygiene and facilities for female sex workers in UP. She says, “Knowledge about natural body processes is a very basic human right. And for individuals whose occupation is providing sexual services, it becomes even more important.”

Meri Marzi aims to ensure sensitised, non-discriminatory health workers for the needs of female sex workers in the Suraksha Clinics under the UPSACS (Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society) program by creating more dialogues and garnering public support for the cause of sex workers’ menstrual rights. The campaign will also ensure interventions with sex workers to clear misconceptions around overall hygiene management to ensure that results flow both ways.

Read more about her campaign.

MH Fellow Sabna comes with significant experience working with a range of development issues. A co-founder of Project Sakhi Saheli, which aims to combat period poverty and break menstrual taboos, Sabna has, in the past, worked on the issue of menstruation in urban slums of Delhi with women and adolescent girls. She and her team also released MenstraBook, with menstrastories and organised Menstra Tlk in the Delhi School of Social Work to create more conversations on menstruation.

With YKA MHM Fellow Vineet, Sabna launched Menstratalk, a campaign that aims to put an end to period poverty and smash menstrual taboos in society. As a start, the campaign aims to begin conversations on menstrual health with five hundred adolescents and youth in Delhi through offline platforms, and through this community mobilise support to create Period Friendly Institutions out of educational institutes in the city.

Read more about her campaign. 

A student from Delhi School of Social work, Vineet is a part of Project Sakhi Saheli, an initiative by the students of Delhi school of Social Work to create awareness on Menstrual Health and combat Period Poverty. Along with MHM Action Fellow Sabna, Vineet launched Menstratalk, a campaign that aims to put an end to period poverty and smash menstrual taboos in society.

As a start, the campaign aims to begin conversations on menstrual health with five hundred adolescents and youth in Delhi through offline platforms, and through this community mobilise support to create Period Friendly Institutions out of educational institutes in the city.

Find out more about the campaign here.

A native of Bhagalpur district – Bihar, Shalini Jha believes in equal rights for all genders and wants to work for a gender-equal and just society. In the past she’s had a year-long association as a community leader with Haiyya: Organise for Action’s Health Over Stigma campaign. She’s pursuing a Master’s in Literature with Ambedkar University, Delhi and as an MHM Fellow with YKA, recently launched ‘Project अल्हड़ (Alharh)’.

She says, “Bihar is ranked the lowest in India’s SDG Index 2019 for India. Hygienic and comfortable menstruation is a basic human right and sustainable development cannot be ensured if menstruators are deprived of their basic rights.” Project अल्हड़ (Alharh) aims to create a robust sensitised community in Bhagalpur to collectively spread awareness, break the taboo, debunk myths and initiate fearless conversations around menstruation. The campaign aims to reach at least 6000 adolescent girls from government and private schools in Baghalpur district in 2020.

Read more about the campaign here.

A psychologist and co-founder of a mental health NGO called Customize Cognition, Ritika forayed into the space of menstrual health and hygiene, sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights and gender equality as an MHM Fellow with YKA. She says, “The experience of working on MHM/SRHR and gender equality has been an enriching and eye-opening experience. I have learned what’s beneath the surface of the issue, be it awareness, lack of resources or disregard for trans men, who also menstruate.”

The Transmen-ses campaign aims to tackle the issue of silence and disregard for trans men’s menstruation needs, by mobilising gender sensitive health professionals and gender neutral restrooms in Lucknow.

Read more about the campaign here.

A Computer Science engineer by education, Nitisha started her career in the corporate sector, before realising she wanted to work in the development and social justice space. Since then, she has worked with Teach For India and Care India and is from the founding batch of Indian School of Development Management (ISDM), a one of its kind organisation creating leaders for the development sector through its experiential learning post graduate program.

As a Youth Ki Awaaz Menstrual Health Fellow, Nitisha has started Let’s Talk Period, a campaign to mobilise young people to switch to sustainable period products. She says, “80 lakh women in Delhi use non-biodegradable sanitary products, generate 3000 tonnes of menstrual waste, that takes 500-800 years to decompose; which in turn contributes to the health issues of all menstruators, increased burden of waste management on the city and harmful living environment for all citizens.

Let’s Talk Period aims to change this by

Find out more about her campaign here.

Share your details to download the report.









We promise not to spam or send irrelevant information.

A former Assistant Secretary with the Ministry of Women and Child Development in West Bengal for three months, Lakshmi Bhavya has been championing the cause of menstrual hygiene in her district. By associating herself with the Lalana Campaign, a holistic menstrual hygiene awareness campaign which is conducted by the Anahat NGO, Lakshmi has been slowly breaking taboos when it comes to periods and menstrual hygiene.

A Gender Rights Activist working with the tribal and marginalized communities in india, Srilekha is a PhD scholar working on understanding body and sexuality among tribal girls, to fill the gaps in research around indigenous women and their stories. Srilekha has worked extensively at the grassroots level with community based organisations, through several advocacy initiatives around Gender, Mental Health, Menstrual Hygiene and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) for the indigenous in Jharkhand, over the last 6 years.

Srilekha has also contributed to sustainable livelihood projects and legal aid programs for survivors of sex trafficking. She has been conducting research based programs on maternal health, mental health, gender based violence, sex and sexuality. Her interest lies in conducting workshops for young people on life skills, feminism, gender and sexuality, trauma, resilience and interpersonal relationships.

A Guwahati-based college student pursuing her Masters in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bidisha started the #BleedwithDignity campaign on the technology platform Change.org, demanding that the Government of Assam install
biodegradable sanitary pad vending machines in all government schools across the state. Her petition on Change.org has already gathered support from over 90000 people and continues to grow.

Bidisha was selected in Change.org’s flagship program ‘She Creates Change’ having run successful online advocacy
campaigns, which were widely recognised. Through the #BleedwithDignity campaign; she organised and celebrated World Menstrual Hygiene Day, 2019 in Guwahati, Assam by hosting a wall mural by collaborating with local organisations. The initiative was widely covered by national and local media, and the mural was later inaugurated by the event’s chief guest Commissioner of Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) Debeswar Malakar, IAS.

Sign up for the Youth Ki Awaaz Prime Ministerial Brief below