As India Reports Rise in Crimes Against Women, Dalits; Why Say 'Sab Changa Si'?

In India, an average of 86 cases of rape, 206 cases of girl-kidnapping were reported every 24 hours in 2021.

Janab Aise Kaise

Photo: The Quint

English Script: Mayank Chawla

Video Editor: Mohd. Irshad Alam, Rajbir Singh

In India, an avergae of 86 cases of rape, 206 cases of girl-kidnapping, and 14 cases of death by suicide due to poverty and unemployment were reported every 24 hours in 2021.

Established in January 1986, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) keeps a record of crimes in India. The 2021 report sheds light on numbers related to those unemployed, farmers, daily wage labourer, and women, among others.

#1 DAILY WAGE LABOURERS

According to the NCRB report, 1.64 lakh people died by suicide in 2021. Among them, 42,004 were daily wage labourers. Comparing the numbers with those of the preceding year, an increase in death by suicide is noticeable.

While 32,559 died by suicide in 2019, the number increased to 37,666 in 2020 and to 42,004 in 2021. However, in 2014, the number of death by suicide was just 15,735.

While the number increased almost threefold in seven years, the BJP government resorted to saying – ‘Sab Changa si'.

#2 FARMERS AND FARM LABOURERS

As many as 10,881 people involved in the farming sector – comprising 5,318 farmers, cultivators, and 5,563 agricultural labourers – died by suicide last year. This accounts for 6.6 percent of the total suicide victims in India. A majority of the suicide victims in the farming sector were men.

The highest proportion of death by suicide among people engaged in the farming sector was reported in Maharashtra (37.3 percent), followed by Karnataka (19.9 percent), Andhra Pradesh (9.8 percent), Madhya Pradesh (6.2 percent), and Tamil Nadu (5.5 percent).

While 5,363 farm labourers died by suicide in 2021, the number was 5,098 in 2020 and 4,324 in 2019.

#3 CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN

Two minor girls were raped every day in 2021 in the national capital, which was the most unsafe metropolitan city for women across the country, according to the latest report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Overall, three rape cases were registered every hour in India and the crime rate increased by approximately 15.3 percent. In the case of states reporting crimes against women, Rajasthan tops the list with 6,337 cases in 2021 and 5,310 cases in 2020. The other states that report a higher number of crimes against women, after Rajasthan, were Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam.

While Uttar Pradesh declares a 'controlled law and order situation', NCRB’s data suggests that the highest number of murders were reported from the state.

If the government is not able to keep a check on the increasing crimes in India, If death by suicide is not a topic of national interest, and If the number of deaths is reduced to a mere number, then we will be forced to ask, Janab Aese Kaise?