Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
According to the SPEFL-SC, the inauguration ceremony of the programme was held on March 22, 2023 at Cybercrime Police Station in sector 08, Ballabghgarh, Faridabad, Haryana. Image Source: IANS
The Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure Skills Council (SPEFL-SC), a not for profit organisation formed by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship along with the American MNC GoodYear Tyre and Rubber Company has taken a concrete step in generating awareness about women safety in Faridabad.
CSR or the Corporate Social Responsibility has become a well-known term in India as many Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) and domestic Indian companies are significantly and actively contributing towards the all-round development of the society through the CSR initiatives. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a self-policing corporate strategy that enables an organisation to be socially accountable to its consumers, employees, and stakeholders. One such effective examples of the CSR initiative has recently come up in Haryana’s Faridabad. The Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure Skills Council (SPEFL-SC), a not for profit organisation formed by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship along with the American MNC GoodYear Tyre and Rubber Company has taken a concrete step in generating awareness about women safety in Faridabad.
According to the SPEFL-SC, the inauguration ceremony of the programme was held on March 22, 2023 at Cybercrime Police Station in sector 08, Ballabghgarh, Faridabad, Haryana. The Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure Skills Council along with the GoodYear Tyre & Rubber company under the CSR initiative, in order to generate awareness among the masses about crime against women have handed over a van to the Faridabad police department. The van will be plying in Faridabad and will be stationed outside schools/colleges, in markets and public places. A video on women safety will be played on the screen installed on the van, creating awareness and making people understand the importance of women safety in our society. Mr. Vikas Kumar Arora (IPS), Commissioner of Police was the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony and while interacting with the media persons, he welcomed the CSR initiative and expressed confidence that the initiative will generate the much needed awareness about the safety of women and crimes against women. High ranking officials and other officers of different ranks from Faridabad Police were present at the event.
Coming back to CSR, it refers to a company's efforts to reconcile its commitments to economic, environmental, and social goals while also meeting stakeholder and shareholder expectations. It is strongly related to sustainability, which is the process of generating benefits for the economy, society, and environment, as well as to ESG, or environmental, social, and governance. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and based in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, RVs, race cars, and heavy off-road machinery. Talking about SPEFL-SC, it is a not-for-profit organization formed by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). The council has been promoted by National Skill Development Corporation & Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI).
Considering the efforts taken by the GoodYear Corporation along with SPEFL-SC in creating awareness about crime against women and women safety, India Tracker takes a look at crime against women in last five years.
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
The data shows that there is an increase in the crime against women as compared to the previous years. There has been a constant increase in crimes against women in India as in the year 2017, 3,59,849 number of crimes were registered against women and this number sharply increased to 4,05,861 in 2019. The crimes against women witnessed a fall in the year 2020 as the number of crimes stood at 3,71,503 as compared to the previous year’s 4,05,861.The reason for the dip was the covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdowns imposed to curtail the spread of the virus and the pandemic. But, post pandemic, in 2021 the number of crimes against women was 4,28,278. This was the highest number of crimes against women reported till date. The crime against women in India increased by around 15.3 percent in 2021.
Majority of cases under crime against women were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or His Relatives’ (31.8 percent) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (20.8 percent), ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (17.6 percent) and ‘Rape’ (7.4 percent). The crime rate registered per lakh women population is 64.5 percent in 2021 as opposed to 56.5 percent in 2020.”
Source: National Crime Records Bureau
Domestic violence cases, also including abuse caused by economic dependency, have been spiraling year after year. This is how bad it is: one in three women faces physical, emotional or sexual violence from intimate partners. Out of 4.28 lakh crimes against women, 1.36 lakh cases across India were registered under 'cruelty by husband or his relatives' in 2021.
West Bengal reported the highest number of cases of cruelty against women by spouses or their relatives in 2021. West Bengal was followed by Uttar Pradesh where 18,375 such cases were recorded, and Rajasthan where 16,949 cases were registered. Among metropolitan cities, Delhi reported most cases of such violence at 4,674. In Kolkata, the figure stood at 841, much below those of Hyderabad (1,678), Jaipur (1,200) and Lucknow (1,101).
The data clearly shows that as soon as the life came to a normal post pandemic, the crime was not an exception. In India, in spite of constitutional and legal safeguards, the crimes against women are on a rise. Gender Disparity is one of the deep rooted causes of violence against women. Though government measures and legal measures are necessary for the protection of women, the society in general also needs to understand this and contribute in safeguarding women from crime. Therefore, the initiative undertaken by GoodYear Corporation along with SPEFL-SC is a much needed step in creating awareness step in creating awareness about women safety in the country and is a good example of cooperation between the private sector and public sector. More such companies should address the social issues under the CSR initiative.
