http://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=TOIGO%2F2017%2F12%2F02&entity=Ar01200&sk=15E3D63A&mode=text
Surveys and statistics can be highly deceiving. One prominent example is the recent finding that Goa ranked highest in the country in the first-ever ‘gender vulnerability index’ to assess women’s safety. The study by Plan India, a national child rights organisation, found that India’s smallest state topped the national table. But look a little closer at the separate categories, and India’s smallest state ranks first outright only in protection against violence. In education, it managed only fifth, beaten by neighbouring Maharashtra among others. In health and survival, both, Kerala and Karnataka, are way ahead. When it comes to poverty, even Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh score higher. Zoom out further and the so-called ‘achievement’ starts to look really meagre. This is because India is generally an extremely poor yardstick for human development. There are some pockets that buck national trends: the north-east states, Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep. But the overall country profile is shockingly poor. Earlier this month, the ‘Women, Peace and Security Index’ produced by leading global NGOs ranked India an appalling but entirely plausible 131 in the world in women’s well-being, based on rigorous study of their social inclusion, justice and security. Nepal and Bangladesh are well ahead, as are a large number of otherwise struggling nations: Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Myanmar. This ‘Women, Peace and Security Index’ is far better conceived than the rudimentary framework of the Plan India survey. Inclusion is measured by women’s measurable achievements in education, employment, and parliamentary representation, as well as access to cell phones and financial services. Justice is captured in both, formal and informal aspects, including the extent of discrimination against women in the legal system, the bias in favour of sons, and discriminatory norms against women in economic opportunities. Security is measured at the family, community, and societal levels, and includes intimate partner violence. India shines in none of these categories. Superficially, Goa provides a dramatic exception to much of India’s systematic oppression of women. This state has a common civil code derived from European law, and daughters enjoy guaranteed property rights. Goan culture and society are relatively open-minded, so women have more leeway to socialise, dress and behave the way they would not be able to in many other parts of the country. There is no doubt women from across the subcontinent have always found the state to be a kind of haven of freedom, where they can be themselves without being overly hassled. That reputation persists, though the reality is changing. This is both top-down (via absurdly misplaced moral policing diktats) and the opposite (the presence of huge numbers of leering Indian male tourists). Other trends are more insidious. Goa’s child sex ratio has steadily declined over the past three decades to a truly shocking 916 girls per 1,000 boys (as registered in 2014). It was already bad in 2001, when the number reached 938, but the situation appeared marginally better in 2011(942). At that time, the state was 10th in the country, behind the usual northeast states, but also Chattisgarh and Odisha. The later numbers have brought the ranking well below the national mid-point, in the awful company of some of the worst places in the world to be born a woman, like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar. None of this seems immediately apparent to either visitors or residents of Goa, but there is a crisis building fast. Besides that truly fundamental problem, all the other factors that come together to create the complex fabric of women’s safety are under stress in Goa. The healthcare infrastructure is largely overburdened. The education system is terminally stagnated, mired in mediocrity, while other states race ahead. Employment is at an all-time high, but not with its essential accompaniment of economic emancipation, because of inflation and the poor quality of jobs in the dominant service sector. Perhaps most alarming and unnecessary of all is the alarming deterioration of law and order, which is the final nail in the coffin of the long-standing original virtues of the state. Horrific, high profile assault, rape and murder cases like those of Danielle McLaughlin (in Canacona), Monika Ghurde (in Sangolda) and Scarlett Keeling (Anjuna) get some sustained attention, but there are many more that do not. Ask any woman of Goa who does not live in a bubble, and she will tell you the fabric of her sense of security is becoming threadbare. The situation may be better than in other parts of the country, but that is hardly a reason to celebrate.
