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Maneka Gandhi denounces poll on women's safety; WCD Ministry says Reuters used flawed methodology

Union Minister for Women and Child Development (WCD) Maneka Gandhi has denounced Thompson Reuters Foundation poll which proclaimed India as the most dangerous country for women.

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Union Minister for Women and Child Development (WCD) Maneka Gandhi has denounced Thompson Reuters Foundation poll which proclaimed India as the most dangerous country for women.

According to a poll of global experts, India is the world's most dangerous country for women due to the high risk of sexual violence and being forced into slave labour.

However, rejecting the poll, the Ministry said that Reuters has used a flawed methodology to arrive at the claim, and the ranking is based on a perception poll based on responses to simply six questions. "The results are not derived from any kind of data and are solely based on inherently subjective opinions."

Stating that the poll has collected opinions of 548 persons on healthcare, discrimination, cultural traditions, sexual violence, non-sexual violence and human trafficking, WCD said, "India is far ahead of many countries in most of these areas and has also seen significant improvement in indicators when compared with its own performance in previous years. Therefore, the ranking of India is a surprise and clearly inaccurate."

The Ministry also said that there is positive data in the areas of violence too. "There has been a drastic reduction in child marriage over the years, with reports of marriage in the age group of 0-9 years now being nil. Further, the percentage of women age 15-19 years who were already mothers or pregnant has dropped from 16% in 2005-06 to 7.9% in 2015-16."

"Despite data to the contrary, the usage of an opinion poll to peg India as the most dangerous country for women is clearly an effort to malign the nation and draw attention
away from real improvements seen in recent years," WCD added in a statement.

The Ministry also said that no information or opinion has been sought from this Ministry regarding this poll, saying "Indian woman is far improved from a decade ago. She is also in a much better position than a number of women in other countries around the world. Facts clearly show that the opinion of India as the most dangerous country for women is not a reflection of reality."

Meanwhile, Manoj Arora, Private Secretary to Minister said, "We have been asking for the names of the experts from Ms Monique Villa, CEO of TRF on twitter. No reply is forthcoming from her or from Reuters. Reuters indulges in this 'hit and run' as always."

War-torn Afghanistan and Syria ranked second and third in the Thomson Reuters Foundation survey of about 550 experts on women's issues, followed by Somalia and Saudi Arabia.

The only Western nation in the top 10 was the United States, which ranked joint third when respondents were asked where women were most at risk of sexual violence, harassment and being coerced into sex.

The poll was a repeat of a survey in 2011 that found experts saw Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India, and Somalia as the most dangerous countries for women.

Experts said India moving to the top of poll showed not enough was being done to tackle the danger women faced, more than five years after the rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi made violence against women a national priority.

Respondents also ranked India the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, including sex slavery and domestic servitude, and for customary practices such as forced marriage, stoning, and female infanticide.

On Tuesday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "While our PM tiptoes around his garden making Yoga videos, India leads Afghanistan, Syria & Saudi Arabia in rape & violence against women. What a shame for our country!," he tweeted.

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