Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
What a year this was, 2020!
Coronavirus pandemic made for top headlines throughout the year. Data pertaining to COVID cases and deaths grabbed everyone's attention.
However, there is other data that needs our attention as well.
The report quoted below is a record of data collected between 2015-19 and throws light on the dark reality in some states. I am talking about data available in National Family Health Survey 2019-20, conducted in 22 states and UTs.
The report does not include data from all the states or data during the pandemic and lockdown. But the report has alerted us on the steps that must be taken hereon.
According to the report, in seven states and UTs, more than 25 percent women are subjected to violence by their husbands.
Data available from the NFHS conducted in 22 states and Union Territories is shocking and must be a matter of concern for all of us.
But the silver lining, perhaps, is that we can now at least report these figures. Because it is still a challenge for many women to be vocal about these issues.
Has this year not been good for women at all? No, that's not true either.
Across the country, there has been a dip in the number of women who have been subjected to violence by their husbands.
While India still faces period-poverty, all women in Scotland will now have access to menstrual products, free of cost.
The declining data was quoted first because a lot still needs to be done for the upliftment of women.
How the COVID pandemic has affected the figures is, however, not a part of the NFHS 2019-20 report.
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