From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI: The eight northeastern states supposed to be safe for women depict a picture of contrast with three ranking on top, three including Meghalaya at the bottom half and two in the middle in the first ever Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI) released by the Centre here.
As per the study, the safest state for women in India has been named as ‘Goa’ followed by Kerala, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur. The ranking of remaining northeastern states are Nagaland (14), Tripura (17), Meghalaya (21), Assam (24) and Arunachal Pradesh (26).
The national capital, on the other hand, continues to linger at the bottom of the index with other states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh, according to the study.
The reason for Goa being ranked as the ‘safest’ for women is its top spot in GVI in which it has scored 0.656. The national average, on the other hand, is 0.5314. The tourist destination has also been ranked first in the protection of its people, fifth in the education sector, sixth in health and eighth in poverty.
In the top bracket, states like Kerala, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur have cemented themselves. The report released on Wednesday by the Ministry of Women and Child Development labelled Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi the ‘most vulnerable for girls’.
An index scans the challenges faced by women keeping sectors such as education, health, poverty and protection against violence in mind.
Kerala’s GVI is 0.634 and the report clearly mentioned that the state has achieved heights in the area of health.
Based on the safety of girls and health conditions, Bihar’s GVI is 0.410, the poorest among all the states.
Besides, the Nitish Kumar-led state has also been ranked the lowest in the education sector.
Another factor for ranking was child marriage. More than 39 per cent of girls got married before the age of 21 years and around 12 per cent of girls became mothers before the age of 19, found the survey by Plan India which did the study.
The GVI of national capital is 0.436. The index of Delhi was hammered down due to track record in education and protection. With GVI of 0.450, Jharkhand ranks above Delhi and Uttar Pradesh is ranked below the national capital with a GVI of 0.434.