According to National Crime Records Bureau data, the rate of rapes per lakh women for Kolkata is1.10, while in other metros it is much higher; some examples – for Delhi it is 19.02, for Raipur it is15.62, while for Mumbai it is 4.59. The number for Kolkata is even much below the national average for major cities, which is 6.39.

India Today Best City Awards 2014 awarded Kolkata the best city award in the category of crime and safety. The award was given after a rigorous survey of Indian cities by the India Today Group. The survey studied 30 capitals and metro cities and 20 emerging cities on 12 parameters.

Kolkata emerged as safest city in the country. While it has been the endeavour of Kolkata Police to serve its people in the best possible way, the credit should also go to the people of the city who have made an equal, if not more, contribution towards making Kolkata achieve this status. The city upholds a proud tradition of standing up for women in distress

Now, West Bengal has a woman as the face of the state, one who has also played a big role in bringing about drastic changes for the safety of women. Eighty-eight fast-track courts, 45 courts for women and 20 women police stations have been set up to address women-oriented grievances only. 

The India Today award for Kolkata

One of the biggest steps for the upliftment of economically backward women taken in the recent past by the West Bengal government was the introduction of the Kanyashree Scheme. This not only enabled quality education for women, but also ensured a fall in rate of marriage of the girl child. 

Celebrating International Women's Day

Workplaces are decked up, and cards and gifts are distributed to women employees. Seminars are held to discuss issues on women's safety in offices and other places. A proactive attitude is the norm when it comes to ensuring women's safety-related grievance cells at workplaces. Besides bouquets and other fancy gifts, cans of pepper sprays (which are a non-lethal yet effective deterrent women can use) are popular gifts amongst the youth nowadays. Social media plays a big role in spreading messages empowering women; Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp are the primary vehicles in this respect.

The social media theme for this year marking International Women’s Day is #MakeItHappen. Make sure to leave your messages for others on our Twitter handle @MaaMatiManushtv with the hashtag #MakeItHappen.