The following post came to my mail box as a comment on "Survey of surprises" and I am taking the freedom to post the message from Marie Preston of the UK
"Though a resident of the UK, I have been in India for the last four years on and off. Since I work with a local NGO in Pune, I have been constantly coming across articles of sexual abuse and one of my interns pointed out to the discussions going on here. And today I have a newspaper report that might be interesting for you all. A news report by Vineeta Pandey in DNA (Daily News Analysis) of the 10th April 2007 says, "Half India's kids are abused"
"I don't know much about the survey methods and all, but when the Government itself comes out with a report that says 53 percent of the country's children are sexually assaulted, it is a matter of concern. But its also highly commendable that Government of India took the initiative to come out with this report. Quite laudable. BTW, considering some of the comments posted, this could also be interesting for your readers, the report says" Contrary to the belief that boys are safer, the survey established that out of the 69 percent of abused children, 54.68 percent were boys"!!So the concerns I see in the above comments about the "percentages" GP mentions is unfortunately vindicated. It could still be a coincidence, but I doubt."
Yes, it is sad to be vindicated on this, well, unfortunately I share my concerns with Marie. Thanks Marie for the posting.
Bangalore © GP 2007
About Me
- GP
- Bangalore, Karnataka, India
- Been working in the field of Responsible Tourism since early 2004. Founded Nila Foundation and The Blue Yonder out of the passion for the region I come from. These two initiatives helped me discover myself and it’s been a beautiful journey ever since; personally as well as professionally. In the constantly evolving dynamics, I felt the need to document thoughts, developments, and changes. What you read here are my personal thoughts and not necessarily endorsed by the organisations I represent in various capacities. I am also a palliative care volunteer. Peace!
7 comments:
It is sad, whichever gender it is.. On the same day, April 10th, DeccanHerald(bangalore based daily) too had news about the survey "1 out of every 2 children sexually abused: study" http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/apr102007/national056202007410.asp
'concerns I see in the above comments about the "percentages" GP mentions is unfortunately vindicated' ??
I didn't know 65=55= 80 as your personal surveys suggested.Do they count differently in UK?
-Anonymous
As a statistician, I must strongly warn you against jumping to conclusions from any study result. Before you do that, 3 important things:
1. Was a uniform method used to collect data across various parts of your large country? How you collect it influences what you find.
2. If the study was conducted mainly on children from the street, or in institutions, you cannot use these inferences for the entire country. Certainly there are more children in homes than on the streets? A better conclusion for the study would be to state that half of all 'vulnerable' children are abused. In statistical terms, these isuues are called selection bias, observer bias, intra-observer variability,etc.
3. Please read the study itself, not the conclusions that politicians or the media have drawn from it. For instance "1 out of two children in India are abused, and in 80% of cases, the offender is the parent" I have Indian friends too - I cannot assume, therefore, that half of them abuse their children sexually - this is absurd. Statistical results are merely the tools which must draw our attention.Any comment on a result should always be part of a larger summary that explains the entire scenario. The rest is sensationalism. If you download the pdf version of this study available at their website, you will see that the actual researchers are much more humble and truthful, when they discuss the pitfalls in their study.
I have been reading your posts - violence, riots, now child abuse - I should reconsider my plans for an Indian Holiday!
Mentioning our personal experiencs, and also a report that was brought out by the Government in this blog was to raise our concerns and not to sensationalise the issue. The report as Anonymous suggested, could be sensationalism to some extend, but the reason I mentioned it here, especially the issues of boys being sexually abused is because we could relate it and it is first time we are seeing something of this sort being addressed in public.
BTW, Anonymous, if you are not the one who is ready to touch base with realities of destinations, you shouldn't be travelling. This is where you need to look at the difference between a tourist and a traveller.
how an anybody indulge in meaningful tourism without travelling? does one need to do a background check on all destinations one travels to? you are painting the entire country as strife-torn,violence-escalating,predator(sexual etc.etc.)-ridden place where tourists should think more than a dozen times before coming
-Anonymous
truth be told,I always feel that you don't have the maturity that only years can bestow. Your topics are selected with the best of intentions but it comes across as the opinions of a over-zealous hot-head youngster.yah! yah! i know ,you are a thirties-something old man.To be considered a serious blogger,(by people other than the water-tights,the lizzys' & tharas,no offence meant $ should not be taken )you should be better researched about topics if you are planning on a serious blog rather than the usual run-of the-mill blogs that abound the net.
you are doing a good job but
make it better
-Anonymous
Like the vast majority of my fellow humans, I’m a family man, with 3 young kids, regular office job, 9 to 5, and saving money for an annual holiday with wife and children.
No, pal, I am very definitely not a traveler – as you seem to define it. I am a tourist, straight and simple, looking for a safe, clean, beautiful place to take my family to in the summer. And of course, we want to come back with memories, not injuries.No, I don’t want five-star comfort, limos and a private pool. I certainly don’t want to visit a place, for all its beauty, if I am going to be walking into the middle of a riot, or if I am going to be running for my life from marauding mobs. I certainly do not want to take the chance that somebody might abuse my 6 year old son, if I let him out of sight for a minute.
Naturally, for the young and the carefree, these are not issues. Maybe 15 years ago, I would have said bollocks, it doesn’t matter. But things change, mate, when you have kids to look after. You cant just haul on a backpack and bugger off to eastern Europe without a visa - no, you've got to pick and choose.
I ain’t that much of an arty bloke myself, so explain this to me. You promote ‘responsible tourism’, but then a tourist is different from a traveler? A tourist is someone who travels to places that are safe and peaceful; while a traveler tours a place for the beauty of it, after finding out the local crime rate, and saying he doesn’t care?
From my earlier trips to India, including to your state of Kerala, GP, I know for a fact that India is in many ways an ideal and relatively safe tourist destination, especially for traveling (Ooops – sorry – touristy!) families. And then there you go, like an eager boy scout, all caught up in being ‘honest and truthful’, shouting out to all and sundry that ‘Hey, we got some bad stuff here too’!! Believe me, back home in Durban, it would take a lot of convincing to make us feel that that any other place has harsher ‘realities’ than we do there.
I’ve been watching your blog awhile, and it was painful to see you shooting yourself in the foot with all that negative publicity.
Jeez, wake up, mate. Would you put up an advertisement that said “Come to where the riots are, to where half of all kids are abused, we’ll also show you a few butterflies on the way”?!! Two tight slaps to ya!
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