Women safety is still a big concern. Even homes are not fully safe for women. Discrimination and violence used to haunt them in Jhalawar. Girls felt so unsafe by the boys that they hesitated even to go to their schools and colleges. Not surprising since Jhalawar is among the most backward district of Rajasthan,located in the southeastern part of the state sharing border with Madhya Pradesh.
However, situation is changing after Dr. Bharati Dixit took charge as District Collector of Jhalawar in Jan 2022. One of the toppers of 2014 batch of IAS, Dr. Dixit addressed the issue by starting a campaign to empower the girls.
In an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds Ms. Dixit spoke about Aatma Raksha project, a comprehensive program for the overall development of girls.
COFFEE WITH THE GIRLS
After joining as the DC, Jhalawar, Dr. Dixit invited girl students from school & colleges over a cup of coffee and talked about the issue they faced. Most of them shared their fears in venturing out specially those studying in government schools. Every day they are confronted by boys outside their institution.
“Almost girls from all parts of the district were facing these problems but it was more prevalent in areas which are far away from the district headquarter and falls on the border”, said the collector.Even the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)testified that crime against women in Jhalawar was much more than the state average.
SELF-DEFENCE TRAINING
Dr. Dixit found that girls facing these problems were short on confidence in face of boys’ bullying. She said, “It is not possible for the administration, police and even for the family member to go everywhere with the girls. Most of them had to drop out from the school.But this is not a solution. Our task was to inculcate confidence in them. So that they could fight the bullies on their own.”
The district collector’s team built a ten days self- defence training program called ‘Aatma -Rakhshafor the girls. A permanent self-defence training centre has been started at the district headquarter. Initially some teachers and students from various school & and colleges were given training to become master trainers. Till now many girls have volunteered for the training and the whole project is having a multiplier effect. “The plan was to train some of them who would train other girls in their institute. Slowly, Aasha&Anganbadi’s workers were also given training”, said the DC.
Till now more than 600 girls have been benefitted from this project and other departments have also started to chip in. Along with the self-defence theory session are also conducted in which persons from police, health and women & child development came to talk about the legal rights they have if they are in such situation.
BE YOUR OWN PROTECTOR
Girls can’t become wrestlers or weight-lifters in 10-days, yet they can learn some tricks to combat the eve teasers. She says, “Girls and boys are built differently. We just are trying to teach them few punches & kicks and focusing on using opponent strength against itself only. We are also tell them about the extent of sentence boys can get if a girl files complaints against them. If the girls know that their little step could land the offender in jail for 3-4 years, they won’t be scared to face them.”
Dr. Dixit says a simple stare of a confident girl is enough to scare the errant boys. The Collector also emphasize that she doesn’t want the girls to start a fight with boys.Her goal is only to remove the impression from girls’ mind that they are weak & need someone else to be their protector.
