Thaindian News

New Delhi, March 8 (IANS) Even as the world celebrated International Women’s Day Tuesday, a report highlighted the everyday tribulations undergone by women from northeast India in the national capital.

According to the Northeast Support Centre and Helpline, at least 96 cases of crime, including rape, molestation and harassment, against people from the northeast community were recorded in Delhi last year.

“The centre and the ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) must issue directive to implement existing laws, policies and plan of actions to end racial discrimination, sexual violence and human trafficking challenges faced by northeast communities in the cities,” the centre said a report released here Tuesday.

“The North East MP Forum must take note of the plight faced by their communities and take up the matter with concerned law-enforcing agencies and governments,” it added.

“Delhi has become an unsafe city for women with increasing crimes against them. According to Delhi Police, every 18 hours, a woman is raped and every 14 hours a woman is molested in Delhi,” said the report.

The report said youngsters migrating from their homes in the northeast, come to Delhi for better educational and employment opportunities.

According to the report, over 200,000 northeastern migrants come to Delhi — which is 48.21 percent of the total migrant population from the region, which comprises Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

However, Delhi has emerged to be an increasingly unsafe place for the community, especially the women, the report said.

Quoting a study by Jagori, an NGO, in 2009, the report said around 70 percent women were reported harassed on roads while around 60 percent men and 71 percent common witnesses reported that they have seen women being harassed.

The report said 78 percent of the northeast community in Delhi faced racial discrimination in different forms in 2010, which is slightly less compared to 86 percent in 2009.

“However, it’s still a big number,” it added.

But it’s not just the women who face problems.

The report said 83 percent of northeast men face racial discrimination in Delhi.

It said over 414,850 people from the northeast migrated to other mega cities of India during 2005-2010.

In 2005, the population of the community which migrated was 34,000. The average rate of migration annually is 13.62 percent.

The report also explores the reasons for the high migration rate — lack of good education and employment opportunities. Socio-political unrest is another reason.